To truly be effective in social media with influencers, I think you need to build a relationship, not ship a press package. You also have to recognize and understand the different groups that exist in social media, so you know how to develop and target brand programs and exposure.  In case you fear that I’m starting to sound a little too professional and polished in this approach, I submit for your approval a hand drawn diagram in the picture to the left.  Fancy, isn’t it? I put this beauty up on our office white board this morning while talking through the concept with a client.

Before we discuss what to do with these various groups, let’s start by defining them.

The consumer has the least amount of influence or interest in the product, but they represent the largest purchasing power…these are the folks that we are ultimately trying to sway, to move to purchase. Consumers are you and me and everybody else that has the ability to purchase your product or service, hereafter referred to generically and entirely to business-school like as “Brand X”.  This is the goal of the company: to get these (so far) non-customers to make the decision to give your company money in some capacity.  If they do this, you get to keep your job and keep on making more cool things like Brand X 2.0 and the new and improved iBrand X.

The enthusiasts are the people that still have a (relatively) small audience size (probably fewer than 3k total) but are hard-core lovers of the brand. They like all things Brand X and will talk about it day and night. They are also eager to assist the brand in many ways, including grass roots WOM marketing efforts, forum moderation and even customer support. This group of loyalists are invaluable to your marketing efforts (as we will look at later), but unfortunately are often passed over in an effort to reach somebody with a larger audience.

The influencers have a sizeable audience (from the tens of thousands to millions) but have little interest or knowledge of Brand X. In social media they have a massive audience, and are constantly asked to retweet a message, put up a link to a product or page, or just talk about a brand. Often they will do this, sometimes because they are being paid to, sometimes because they are just kind.  Corporate types and marketers usually get a good rise when an influencer mentions their product, the oh-so-popular Brand X, and think this is a completed cycle of marketing…that they have succeeded.  It is my belief that this isn’t the end-game, this is the starting line. This is the group that we want to convert into the most powerful and final group: the inciters.

The inciters have great interest in the product, use it, like it, and talk about it to their sizeable audience.  When an inciter knows and understands something, and feels passionately about it, they will talk about it…without a press kit to tell them what to say! Better yet, they won’t just talk about it, they’ll talk about it frequently.  This ultimately will drive the consumer (remember them?) to think, “well golly, since this really popular person obviously loves Brand X, I bet I will also!” and then rush down to their local big box store to buy it.

I described the four sectors of the community in a somewhat glib manner, but in all seriousness they exist roughly within the roles described, and all serve a very important part of the product (or service) sales cycle.  In our next post, we’ll look at the strategy and methodology behind the cycle, and how to move a person from one segment to the next.

I’ve created this list of “things you must know” mostly based upon very positive experiences I’ve had, but also from negative ones…things that I’ve either experienced myself or seen others do.  This isn’t a tactical post, I think I write plenty of those.  Instead, this is my advice to those that are going to lend their expertise to others, and hopefully by checking these off you will avoid some common mistakes that often result in unmet expectations, from one side or the other…or both.

Know Yourself

I bet you weren’t expecting that one, were you? Let me explain what I mean by this: simply put, you need to know your own strengths and weaknesses, and you need to know your work flow and financial needs; this is especially true if you are consulting. Since most of us actually do know our strengths and weaknesses, maybe a better way to word this is be honest with yourself.  I saw a quote online recently that really rang true with me. Unfortunately I haven’t always followed it.

Work for full price or work for free, but don’t work for cheap.

As I applied that to many situations in the past that I have had to deal with, I see how true this is.  I could probably write an entire series of posts about why this is so important, but for now I’ll just let you ponder it and apply it to your own situation. In knowing yourself, you need to be honest with what your needs (or those of your organization) are, because sometimes…no matter how much you need the work…it’s better to say no to a project.  For example, if you get into something that takes up all of your time but doesn’t meet all of your financial needs you won’t be able to take on another (potentially better) project when it does come around.  I understand the horrible economy that we have been mired in, so don’t misunderstand me.  If you need to eat and pay your bills, do what you need to do….just don’t get yourself stuck in a long term commitment that paints you into a corner.  If you have an opportunity that comes up that you need financially but does not make sense as a long-term project, consider offering to get the client started and in the right direction then training them how to do it themselves or pass it on to another person (see the previous post “Know Other Professionals“).  If this is the case, make sure you make it clear up front, otherwise you are going to be involved in some unpleasant conversations quickly.

Knowing yourself and being honest about where you are amazing and where you are weak is paramount to all business, not just social media.  Many of the successes that I’ve had in my career have been a direct result of taking on projects that are in alignment with my strengths.  Of course the flip side of this is true also…many of the failures that I’ve had along the way (and trust me, there are plenty) are a direct result of trying to do things that are outside of my scope of excellence.  It’s very tempting, when a new project comes along, to try to force it to fit into the mold that is your profession; don’t be taken by this foolishness.  Instead, seek out projects that you can knock out of the park.

Regarding the financial piece, I want to state again…sometimes the best business decision is to pass on a project.  This is often counterintuitive, but then again many aspects of business are.  Knowing yourself well usually helps in this decision. When considering a new social media project, don’t just consider the financial gains of the first check you receive from the client but really ponder what this will mean to your business 30, 60 even 120 days from now.  Beyond making a wise financial decision and working within your scope of excellence, don’t discount the chemistry that will be needed between you and the client.  There are people in this world that we just don’t get along with sometimes, no matter how nice they or you are.  If you have a meeting or two as you are pitching the program, sometimes you just get that gut feeling that the relationship is going to be painful.  Listen to your gut, spare yourself the trouble.  Why am I including this in the section about knowing yourself as opposed to the first part which was knowing the client? Because sometimes the problem is you, not the client.  You need to know yourself well enough to know when you will not be able to communicate or perform in such a way as to meet (and hopefully exceed) the client’s expectations.  Clients come and go, but your reputation sticks with you for a long time…treat it as the valuable asset that it is and know when to bow out of the process.

I hope you have enjoyed and learned from this “what you need to know about social media” series.  I’ve written in from the heart and from memories of bumps and bruises along the way, not from a text book or a news blog that I read.  The world of social media marketing is really just juvenile in development so there is a great, unchartered frontier in front of us.  I’m incredibly excited for what 2010 holds in terms of product development, commercial adaptation and soon-to-be-discovered rock stars for all that social media is.   Whatever your part in the chain, whether a service developer, manager for a large agency or a consultant working from your couch in front of the TV, thank you for all that you do to make this new media so dynamic and amazing.

Here’s to looking at 2009 in the rear view mirror, and to the unknown adventure of 2010 that lies ahead of us!

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Did you enjoy this post? Consider subscribing to the RSS for future updates delivered straight to a feed reader, or come over to Twitter and say hi…that is where I do most of my one-on-one engagement

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Photos used under Creative Commons License. Reflections photo from LollyKnit and quote photo by ct☮

I’ve created this list of “things you must know” mostly based upon very positive experiences I’ve had, but also from negative ones…things that I’ve either experienced myself or seen others do.  This isn’t a tactical post, I think I write plenty of those.  Instead, this is my advice to those that are going to lend their expertise to others, and hopefully by checking these off you will avoid some common mistakes that often result in unmet expectations, from one side or the other…or both.

Know The Channels

Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Ustream, blogs, forums and all of the other communities in social media each have a different feel, and as such have different rules and therefore different results should be expected.  I’m going to go on record as saying that, in my opinion, trying to target all areas is a big mistake unless you have an incredibly well resourced team.  For most of the Fortune 500 companies that I work with we target a handful of channels based upon the brand needs and expectations…I don’t think there is such a thing as a cookie cutter social media program.  Why?  Because the need of every client is different (remember that part I wrote about knowing your customer?)  That said, there are a few basics that should be covered, but once you have established those you’ll want to match specific needs with specific communities.  If you try to be all things to all people you’re going to get spread too thin.

When I present to a group that contains companies that haven’t yet jumped into social media, I get one question consistently, “where should I start?”  It’s a pretty difficult question to answer with any brevity because it’s like somebody asking “where should I start with business?” or “where should I start with marketing?” Social Media is such a broad scope of platforms, but when going through a 10 minute Q&A after a presentation and trying to answer as many questions as possible, I usually say “If you do nothing else, start a blog and have a presence on Facebook and Twitter”.  That said, it’s not always the answer for everybody, but it’s a good shotgun approach to start.  Following is a quick overview of the feel of each channel, with some possible pitfalls that you can experience in each.

Twitter – By now most companies have heard of Twitter and are anxious to get involved.  Recently it has been a lot easier for me to discuss Twitter strategy with organizations, a far cry from the days not too long ago that I insisted that Twitter names should be put on business cards (that got me laughed out of meetings in 2008). In the rush to get to this channel however, make sure you know what you are in for.  Twitter is extremely conversational and therefore is immediate and personal.  One of the biggest mistakes I see companies both large and small making on Twitter is trying to get their PR or legal department to approve everything that is published.  Yes, I’m serious…there are plenty of companies that still insist on running every single tweet through multiple PR teams to make sure the messaging is spot on.  The problem with this? Twitter is usually more like a conversation than a presentation.  Most companies that try this find out that their growth, engagement and brand lift are slow if not completely void.  The other extreme (and also a mistake) is to put a well-intentioned intern or recent hire in charge of communicating with your customers.  I don’t think this is a mistake because of age, but because of experience with the company.  Twitter is often the most immediate and intimate touch point with your current and future customers; make sure you put your best and brightest people behind this channel…and pay them well! They can make or break your reputation in just a few key strokes.

Facebook - With 350MM users and growing it’s the largest social network online, so certainly you need to be a part of it.  Facebook has its own feel also, and that is one of sharing and playing.  Facebook doesn’t necessarily have the feel of immediacy that Twitter does, but fans do have their own demands.  They want to share things with their friends and generally have fun, so your business should respond accordingly.  Encourage fans of your brand to upload their own photos and videos to your wall and get them to talk to each other.  Build community! Be careful about sweepstakes and giveaways however, there are some recent changes to Facebook’s terms of service that can get you suspended in a hurry if you are holding contents the wrong way from your brand fan page.

Blogs - Don’t forget about the blogs! They often get left off the list of social networks, but they are one of the original and the best.  I tell my clients that their company blog should be the official word on all things related to them, from press releases to product updates to setting online rumors and leaks straight.  This is the place that you have control to say what you need to say…but the community can still interact! If you want traffic through your blog, make it easy for people to find information (have a search bar prominently displayed near the top of the page), interact with you(don’t make them register or fill out CAPTCHA to comment) and share with their friends (use ShareThis, Tweetmeme buttons, etc.)  Commenting on blogs has slowed down considerably because of conversational channels like Twitter, but people still read them.  Make sure you keep your company blog current and relevant.

Although I’ve highlighted these three channels, there are so many others that can be beneficial to your company.  YouTube is the place to upload original video content, Ustream is incredible for hosting live events or doing video chats with fans and Foursquare is still a great (and mostly untapped) opportunity to geo-target your customers with special offers and incentives.  There are thousands of social networks around, make sure you find the ones that are good for your company then dive in and participate with your community!

In the next post I will talk about what it means to know other professionals.

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Did you enjoy this post? Consider subscribing to the RSS for future updates delivered straight to a feed reader, or come over to Twitter and say hi…that is where I do most of my one-on-one engagement

____________________________

Photos used under Creative Commons License. Twitter mashup from Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten and blogging ticket from Jacob Botter

I’ve created this list of “things you must know” mostly based upon very positive experiences I’ve had, but also from negative ones…things that I’ve either experienced myself or seen others do.  This isn’t a tactical post, I think I write plenty of those.  Instead, this is my advice to those that are going to lend their expertise to others, and hopefully by checking these off you will avoid some common mistakes that often result in unmet expectations, from one side or the other…or both.

Know Your Audience

Your audience is not “everybody” unless you are selling oxygen or religion…and even then there are plenty of people that don’t want either.  If you really think you can reach everybody, you are sorely mistaken.  You’re also going to be working 24/7 and going broke, because you cannot target everybody.  Now that we have established that, this is another great conversation to have with your client.  They probably have a pretty good idea of who their target audience is; make sure you understand who they are going after.  If you’ve done your homework (by knowing the product) then you can and should add to this conversation.  Once you understand the person that you are trying to reach you can start developing a strategy that will include some social media channels but not others.  Your strategy should also tell you when you should be active online (based upon when the target audience is), how often to engage them  and what sort of external resources you should link to that will add value to the community. If your client has no idea who they are targeting, I would suggest that you consider working this out with them before you start, it will prevent a lot of frustration from both sides.

You’ll notice that I said you will want to utilize some social media channels but not others…if you understand who your audience is, then you should also understand where your audience is and where they are not.  For example, although MySpace has been dropped by users like a bad habit as of late, they also recently announced a new focus on music.  It would stand to reason then that if your client is pitching music service, or is a band, producer, etc. then MySpace is still a viable (and reasonably good) social media outlet for them.  If, on the other hand, your client produces a durable good like car tires then putting effort into MySpace is likely a waste of time and resources because your core audience won’t be there.  Sure, people that listen to music do drive cars and therefore need tires, but this is the “appeal to everybody” mentality that will have you spinning your wheels in social media.  Sorry, I couldn’t resist the pun, forgive me…it’s true though.

To understand your audience is to understand the timing and frequency of engagement as well.  By “engagement” I mean @ replies on Twitter, comments on Facebook threads and blog/forum posts, and other one-to-one engagement.  Don’t confuse engagement with publication…putting a post up that links to a new product launch is not engagement, it’s information sharing.  I’m talking about real, honest-to-goodness active engagement with your consumers. Not all audiences react the same to engagement and timing; some expect a very high level of interaction with the brand (especially in the tech sector) and some simply want to sit back and watch, they don’t need the always-on attention of the social media presence even though they are in the space themselves.

By knowing your audience you will also understand want other products, services and resources they would like other than your own brand.  When dealing with social media, it’s important to offer value to your consumers, and often times that means linking to resources outside of your client’s ecosystem.  While many traditional marketers would scoff at this idea, in my experience I have found that the more I offer to the community I’m speaking with that doesn’t necessarily link directly to the client’s site, the more retention we see from the community.  In other words, when I talk about and link to news stories, product offerings and other things I think the community would find interesting, the higher the follower/friend count goes and likewise the level of engagement.  Simply put, don’t just talk about yourself.  I have worked with a lot of traditional media and marketing types, and almost without exception they feel that this is a bad idea, “always keep the focus on your own product”, they say.  Social media is a different beast altogether, and the community knows this.  Of course that doesn’t mean you should link to things your direct competitors are doing, but use your common sense…if you find an article that you think would be good for your audience even though it’s not related to your client, bring some attention to it! Your audience will appreciate you for it.  As for the client, well…that’s another story.  It’s going to take some time to build up trust from them that this strategy is actually good for them overall.

If you spend the time to truly understand who it is that you are speaking to and with, your client is going to see measurable gains in some key areas like follow count and engagement, not to mention positive sentiment.  If you’ve been put in a position in which you have to roll out programs and channels very quickly and you don’t have time to do the research in advance, may I suggest a bold tactic? Ask them what they like.  Remember, social media is a conversation and not a platform, so don’t be afraid to talk to your audience and ask them what they are looking for.  The result may surprise you and your client, likely in a very good way.

In the next post I will talk about what it means to know the channels.

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Did you enjoy this post? Consider subscribing to the RSS for future updates delivered straight to a feed reader, or come over to Twitter and say hi…that is where I do most of my one-on-one engagement

____________________________

Photos used under Creative Commons License. Facebook photo from Laughing Squid and crowd photo from Matthew Field

I’ve created this list of “things you must know” mostly based upon very positive experiences I’ve had, but also from negative ones…things that I’ve either experienced myself or seen others do. This isn’t a tactical post, I think I write plenty of those. Instead, this is my advice to those that are going to lend their expertise to others, and hopefully by checking these off you will avoid some common mistakes that often result in unmet expectations, from one side or the other…or both.

Know The Product

I think this is the single biggest mistake that I see over and over and over again…lack of product knowledge when you are doing work for somebody else.You may be running a campaign for a durable good or a service. Sometimes it’s just brand awareness so there is not one thing you are pointing to, just the brand. No matter what it is, if you don’t know the ins and outs of what you will be marketing you are doing your client, their customers and yourself a huge disservice. I’ve been invited in to too many conversations that go something like this:

Them: Hey, we’re working on social media engagement for Product X, would love your advice on where to start.

Me: Sounds good. What do you know about the product, what is the community going to be talking about when we open up the social media channels?

Them: Well, I know it does blah blah blah, and our initial benchmark report shows that people mostly want to know about blah blah blah.

Me: Super. What is your personal impression of Product X? What do you like and dislike about it? What do you know about it that the general public does not, something that would be helpful that we can discuss with them?

Them: Ummmm….what?

Me: What’s your hands-on experience with it? Who are the competitors? What do the real fanboys of Product X think about it?

Them: I don’t know, I haven’t actually used it.

Get To Know The Product Or Service You Will Be Promoting

Don’t let this be you. If you’re dealing with large agencies and brands you can probably rest on your laurels for a while without being discovered, but once you start the engagement process with the consumers of the product or service, you’re going to be eaten alive. You won’t be able to join conversations, you’ll essentially be an observer, pushing out information but not truly being able to engage. The result? You’ve just turned social media into traditional media, the one way podium of information pushing. Please don’t do this, it’s bad for you, it’s terrible for your client and the customers that you manged to attract during your initial jump into social will either stop engaging your or simply go away.

Before you get into the world of social media, do your homework. What is the market share? Who is the competition? If this is something that you are able to use (service or good) personally? Try to get your hands on it; if it’s too expensive or unattainable for any reason, don’t be afraid to ask the client for access. The most effective campaigns and programs are those that are run by people that understand and are passionate about what they are talking about. This is often misunderstood on the consultant/agency side, and the results are made obvious quickly: when it comes to engagement in the channels (especially Twitter), you will get called out as a phony pretty quickly. You need to have knowledge of what you are talking about. If you need inspiration, go watch some episodes of Mad Men. I’m serious. When Don Draper and his team really try to understand the product, the creativity starts flowing and the campaigns are successful. The big difference? Their audience couldn’t talk back to them in real time…the world of social media isn’t quite as forgiving.

Want to know how to really close a deal with your client? When you’re at your face-to-face meeting, pull out their product or call it up on your computer, then talk to them about what you like about it personally and how you are going to engage their audience based upon YOUR experience. Of course there are other factors that will determine the program and who they chose for the work (like cost, reputation, etc), but I can tell you from personal experience, this never hurts. Your client wants to know that you’re more than a shill…they want to work with somebody that believes in what they are producing as much as they do. Prove to them that you are that person.

In the next post I will talk about what it means to know the audience.

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Did you enjoy this post? Consider subscribing to the RSS for future updates delivered straight to a feed reader, or come over to Twitter and say hi…that is where I do most of my one-on-one engagement

____________________________

Photos used under Creative Commons License. Facebook photo from Laughing Squid and Zune from Joe Wilcox

Part 1 of 6

Over the years I’ve run a lot of social media programs, sometimes for companies or services that I own or manage, sometimes for organizations that have hired me to consult or drive their efforts in the various online communities.  This article is primarily aimed at those that do the latter, although several points can apply to the former.  That is to say, if you are a consultant or work at an agency whose primary focus is running social programs for somebody else, I’m writing this for you.

I’ve created this list of “things you must know” mostly based upon very positive experiences I’ve had, but also from negative ones…things that I’ve either experienced myself or seen others do.  This isn’t a tactical post, I think I write plenty of those.  Instead, this is my advice to those that are going to lend their expertise to others, and hopefully by checking these off you will avoid some common mistakes that often result in unmet expectations, from one side or the other…or both.

You may notice, if you’ve peeked ahead, that there is only one item in this post.  Why did I title it “6 Things You Need to Know”?  There are six in total, so be patient. However, as I wrote this post it because evident to me very quickly that I couldn’t possibly make a quick bullet point list without some thorough explanation…information without context is often misunderstood.  Therefore, I’m going to break this up into six different posts, each with a slightly different focus.  Hopefully all six can be read individually, but really they are meant to come together to form a more complete picture.  As always, if you have question I would be happy to try to answer them.  Leaving a comment here is a great way, but I’m also overly-active on Twitter, so please hit me up there as well.  Without further adieu I give you point one of six in things that you need to know about running a social media program.

Point 1: Know Your Client

You’ve made contact.  Maybe you’ve done the selling, maybe somebody else has…no matter.  We’re jumping past that and right into the assumption that the scope of the work lies ahead of you. It’s easy to get so eager for the sale that once it happens you don’t take the time to get to know your client personally.  I’m not talking about finding out their kids’ names, although if you get to that level of a relationship it’s nice.  I’m talking about understanding the type of personality you are working with, and how they operate professionally.  Running a campaign for a very laid back, hands-off person is far different than running one for somebody that expects reports and heavy communication.  Make no mistake….the point person on the other side is essentially paying your salary.  It’s just as important to understand them as it is your direct boss.  If you don’t have a boss because you are a consultant, don’t let this point get lost, because it’s even more important for you.  If you cannot operate well with your point person, you do not have much to fall back on…your boss isn’t going to rescue you.

Knowing How Your Client Communicates Is Critical

The first thing I like to do with a new client is establish how they prefer to communicate.  Some will want to do almost everything over email, some will want a lot of phone time, and some with need that always-critical face time.  By establishing their best method of communication up front you’re going to save yourself a lot of trouble.  For example, if somebody really does prefer updates and chatter through email, calling them regularly is going to annoy the hell out of them.  Likewise, if they prefer phone or in-person updates, trying to force them down the path of email only will instantly make them feel like they are not important to you.  Being the social media guy that I am, I prefer to do quick touch points via Twitter and the like…but I know that most of my clients do not.  I like to suggest new and effective ways of communicating, but I always communicate with them on their terms, in their preferred method. An important part of understand how you will be communicating is to know when they want reports, check ins, etc.  I have a couple of clients that I speak to every day, and some that I only check in with once per week.  In all cases, we make this determination together at the beginning of the project. Both over-communication and under-communication can kill a relationship quickly.

Understanding Client Expectations Prevents A Lot Of Problems Before They Start

Once you know how they communicate, it’s important to understand what they want communicated.  If you’re dealing with a traditional company that is used to traditional metrics, they’re going to jump straight to easy-to-measure things like follower count, tweets, video views,click through rates, etc.  Companies that are more comfortable with social media may look for key indicators that are more subjective, like sentiment.  All of these are important to measure and report, but make sure you know where you client wants to put their emphasis. I strongly recommend developing a reporting template that can be used and re-used with each client, making only slight changes for each.

It sounds exhausting before the work is even started, right? I assure you, time and time again setting this foundation with the client and being open and clear about expectations on both sides will make for a much smoother program…and that ultimately leads to more work, more revenue and fewer headaches.

In the next post I will talk about what it means to know the product.

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Did you enjoy this post? Consider subscribing to the RSS for future updates delivered straight to a feed reader, or come over to Twitter and say hi…that is where I do most of my one-on-one engagement

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Photos used under Creative Commons License.  Social media from anonymonk and telephone booth from wallyg with cartoon from Scott Hampson

Imagine then what social media would be like if Facebook decided to keep their community confined to college students only.  What if Twitter really did make you answer the question “what are you doing?” and excluded external links, retweets and other crowd-sourced behavior? The reason that social media is the way is it today is because Twitter and Facebook, along with countless other services, adopted to the powerful voice of the crowd. They didn’t let pride or “what they knew to be true” hold them back from making smart, and undoubtedly difficult, business decisions.  Embracing the crowd is always challenging, it means you lose a certain amount of control…and to many that is a scary proposition.

Do you remember Tower Records?  I recall going into one of their stores in Sacramento, California with my cousin in the ’80s.  I was blown away by the massive selection of tapes and CDs and thought that it was the greatest music source on the planet. Apparently, so did they; so much so that they refused to change their business model at all as the ‘trend’ of digital music exploded.  It’s not difficult to understand their outcome: they ended up filing bankruptcy and closing all of their stores, the name later being bought by an unrelated group that now distributes digitally online.  Tower Records refused to embrace the crowd, instead stubbornly pushing forward their own way. Tower Records died.

I previously consulted a company that had created what I would consider to be a game changing service, but it was lacking one thing: the crowd.  I won’t get into details, but this service was teed up perfectly to embrace the crowd, to allow people outside of the company to quickly and easily share information provided by the service.  My recommendation to include and champion social media was considered and then put into cold storage.  What was once a front-page news story is now no more than a mention in articles that talk about similar services that do actually allow the crowd to participate.

My point here is simple…the crowd is powerful.  It is you and me, and we now have a voice.  We don’t just want the ability to share your products and services with our friends and others within our sphere of influence; we expect it.  If you are building an online service, a mobile phone application or some other piece of digital wizardry that you just know is a game changer, make sure that it includes the community.  Once you release it into the wild it will change, hopefully for the better.  Where would Facebook and Twitter be if they refused to do this?

Embrace the crowd or die.

I have recently signed on as the Senior Director of Social Media Strategy with M80, the Los Angeles based leading provider of social media marketing and digital publicity services to Fortune 500 brands.  That’s a mouthful, isn’t it?  Simply put, I work with some of the most amazing companies from around the globe, helping them to reach out, listen to and engage their current and future customers.

I’m humbled and excited to be in this role.  The staff of M80 consists of some of the brightest and most forward-thinking men and women that I have had the privilege to work with, and what we have been able to accomplish together in just the last few weeks in amazing to me.  Although I probably won’t get into granular detail with what we are doing (need to keep some of the wizard behind the curtain stuff behind the curtain still…) I will continue to write about how social media and technology impacts both brands and consumers.  I actually hope to be writing more now, as I’m spending so much time on airplanes.

Me and my Zune HD

I am working with some amazing global brands like Microsoft, LG, Dr Pepper, and Volkswagon.  All of our projects are incredibly interesting and exciting, and if you have been following me for some time you know that I am really passionate about one in particular: Zune.  In the interest of full disclosure, I do advise the truly delightful people at Zune, but my enthusiasm should come as no surprise to anybody that has been reading this blog for any amount of time.  I wrote my first Zune post in July 2006, and did the math about why Zune is superior in this June 2008 article (boy did I get blasted by the fanboys in the comments!) I’ll keep blogging, tweeting and Facebooking about them and our other clients, but now I can do it as a loyal consumer and an industry insider!

As usual, I will continue to use social media to make personal connections with people, both digitally and in the real world.  Twitter is my daily hotbed of activity, but I would also love to connect with you on LinkedIn and Facebook. If you want to subscribe to this blog, the feed is here.

I would love it if you would also start tracking M80 in the usual places like Twitter and our blog.  We’ll be striving to provide value to you, information that you can use (like this article) within your company or just for your own personal satisfaction.

Thank you so much for being a part of this community!

“Every day consumers express their intent via search. Now, we better understand how that intent is established via social media and the interplay between the channels,” said Chris Copeland, chief executive officer of GroupM Search – The Americas. “There is a valuable audience for advertisers to focus on who are engaged with brands through social media and search. The study further validates our view that media discovery, specifically a brand’s owned and earned media, is as important to success as the paid media we handle every day.  Generating upper-funnel awareness and influencing consideration through social media can produce better down-the-funnel performance with paid media, such as paid search.”

The research explored the correlation between social media exposure and search behavior over a three month period across different verticals, including automotive, consumer packaged goods and telecommunications. In addition to looking at total internet users, consumers were divided into three segments:

• Consumers exposed only to a brand’s paid search
• Consumers exposed to social media relevant to a brand’s category
  • A blog, message board/forum, user review, social networking site (e.g., Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn), Twitter/micro-blogging, or video-sharing site (e.g., YouTube, Google Video), as well as a brand’s social marketing program’s “target” sites, or sites which have the most natural potential to hold content about a brand
• Consumers exposed to influenced social media specific to a brand
  • Identified sites containing distributed social marketing content of a brand’s social media program

Search behavior was broken into segments based on where queries fell among stages of the purchase funnel. This included upper-funnel terms expressing awareness and consideration (industry relevant terms, general product attributes) to lower-funnel terms expressing action and loyalty (campaign brand terms, brand product terms).

The study showed searchers who engage with social media, especially those exposed to a brand’s influenced social media, are far more likely to search for lower-funnel terms compared to consumers who do not engage with social media. Further, consumers exposed to a brand’s influenced social media and paid search programs are 2.8x more likely to search for that brand’s products compared to users who only saw paid search.

The study also showed a 50 percent CTR increase in paid search when consumers were exposed to influenced social media and paid search. This revealed consumers exposed to social media are more likely to click on a brand’s paid search ad compared to those exposed to the brand’s paid search alone.  Among searchers using a brand’s product name in the query, the CTR increased from 4.5 percent to 11.8 percent when users were exposed to both influenced social media and paid search around a brand.

In organic search, consumers searching on brand product terms who have been exposed to a brand’s social marketing campaign are 2.4x more likely to click on organic links leading to the advertiser’s site than the average user seeing a brand’s paid search ad alone.

“Social media-exposed consumers are far more likely to search for brand and product-related terms, and click on a brand’s paid search ad,” said Graham Mudd, vice president of comScore, Inc. “This finding provides strong evidence that investing in social media marketing can both increase initial brand consideration and drive higher conversion rates once the consumer has decided to purchase.”

“Advertisers need to explore their social media initiatives and how they impact user engagement and performance in other channels. This data suggest that social media marketing does positively affect consumer purchase consideration, specifically through the search channel,” said Todd Steinman, chief operating offer at M80.

The findings introduce several implications for the search marketing and social marketing industries. “As advertisers consider the allocation of paid media and the greatest opportunity for return, the topics of media discovery and influenced social discovery must be a part of the conversation,” said Copeland. “Blending paid, earned and owned media, and putting your brand in places where it can be discovered

and part of the natural conversation, will enable advertisers to influence the outcome of intention expressed by consumers, and capture this heavily engaged audience.

About GroupM Search

GroupM Search is the search marketing specialist division of GroupM, the media buying and planning arm of WPP responsible for more than 1/3 of the world’s media buying. Honored by OMMA Magazine and MediaPost as the 2008 Search Marketing Agency of the Year, GroupM Search employs 600 search marketing strategists globally and has the largest global footprint of any other search organization with 40 offices serving more than 40 countries. GroupM Search provides industry-leading search marketing strategies technology development, research, staffing and training to GroupM communications planning agencies through its search divisions including Maxus Search, MediaCom Search, MEC Interaction and MindShare Search, as well as the direct-to-client brands, Outrider, Catalyst Online and Quisma. Our search divisions provide clients with the right balance of human intelligence and search technology in order to deliver award-winning paid, organic and advanced search marketing strategies (mobile, social media, video, local and more) that help our clients become a part of the online conversation. Global search marketing perspective from talent across GroupM Search can be found on the industry blog, SearchFuel (www.searchfuel.com).  URL: www.groupmsearch.com

About M80

M80 is a leading provider of social media marketing and digital publicity services to Fortune 500 brands. Programs drive brand engagement and consumer activation through online word of mouth, conversation marketing, social network management, influencer outreach, digital asset syndication, online publicity and promotions. They empower consumer evangelists, create affinity and build community. Since 1998, the company has worked with hundreds of clients on thousands of programs, offering innovative solutions, producing quantifiable ROI. M80 is a founding member of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) and was acquired by WPP’s GroupM in 2006 (LSE: WPP and NASDAQ: WPPGY). The company is headquartered in Los Angeles with offices in New York. URL: http://m80im.com/

About comScore

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital marketing intelligence. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo

You won’t see babies rollerskating or a funny wedding entrance in this…what you will see in a lot of data coming at you quickly. Data that talks about the changing communication landscape, the convergence of media and the massive impact that social networks are having on day to day life. I think it’s all incredibly fascinating, and is a brilliant and useful follow-up to another powerful video, “Shift Happens”. If you are connected to media, social networking, marketing or crowd communication in any way, please check this out and let me know what you think in the comments…not just about the video (which is top quality) but about the concepts and statistics brought up in it.