Tag Archives: social media

In Response to Social Media Hasn’t Failed Advertising, We’ve Failed Ourselves

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Matt Morin identifies very valid points about the use of social media (channels/tactics) and impact on revenue and sales.  Traditional media separates the use of branding tactics and tactics which drive sales. For social media, in some cases the usage of these channels are not clearly identified so that the impact (brand awareness or sales) can be difficult to tracked. There needs to be clear objectives such as is creating brand awareness or creating sales – of course these are not the only objectives. Then the tactics must align to objectives. This is where strategic planning is really key of the strategy research is even more important.

 The old rules and questions still apply to social media and are used to justify and substantiate plans and budgets:

  • Why is are we doing this (objectives must have brand, business, and consumer directive)
  • Who is the target market
  • What is the message, content are we trying to convey
  • Where is the target market (are they on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter)
  • When is the best time to reach them

 

  • How do we deliver? (tactic/channel)

Measuring success is not by the number of likes but how those likes translate into sales. Marketers must not shy away from measuring the acquisition, retention, and sales this should be an important part of every strategic plan.

Marketers can be easily seduced by sexiness of new types of digital channels such as social media but remember what happened in the early days of digital…so critical thinking still applies to digital.

If we continue to throw away the things we learn from past we’ll never understand the mistakes we are making now.

Thank you @sassymikita for bringing this to my attention!

Social Measure the Holy Grail – SMBChicago

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The other morning I had the pleasure of being asked to moderate a session; the honor to discuss an important subject – Digital Measurement precisely Social Media Measurement. We’re all trying to figure out how to measure social media, the Social Media Breakfast was perfect place to discuss theories and successes in measuring social media. I wasn’t sure of the level of experience my audience would have so I de-geeked my formulas so that we could have a pleasant conversation.

And a pleasant conversation we had. The Social Media Breakfast of Chicago founded by Craig Bagdon, Scott Bishop and Mike Pilarz who brought together people from all types of backgrounds who are excited by social media and it’s various forms, usages, and users. The group I had sparked enthusiastic conversations around calculating success through measurement and a genuine desire for participates to get something out of the session. If you’re going to show up for an early morning breakfast this is the place that will fuel you physically and intellectually.

I presented rationale on measuring Social Media. Most importantly what’s necessary to do before your begin to measure. It’s always good to have a baseline. We all acknowledged there are so many different behaviors to measure. I spent the past years working out the behavior and intent which I described through a schema I created.

Rick Sack made a great comment about social media he said it’s not media it’s marketing.
The take away from our lively session on Social Media Measurement:

  • Identify the communication objectives
  • Define the communication objectives and in terms of social media usage
  • Identify the social media tactics along with key performance indicators
  • Indicate outcomes – these are end results of the communications, such as reaching the audience with message. inspiring dialogue, and learning.
  • Set the return on investment as well as baseline for future analysis – the formula for this is cost of acquisition.

    • Cost of program/metrics = CoA

Danial Prager, Ocean Agency, nicely summed up Social Media Measurement session in his blog post, On Social Media Measurement.

My recommended reading:

Aliza Sherman, The Everything Blogging Book
Clay Shirky, Here Comes Everybody
Bob Garfield, The Chaos Scenarios

Highly recommend attending the Social Media Breakfast Chicago – #SMBChicago follow: SMBChicago

You can find me on Twitterhttp://www.twitter.com/tery or Facebook.com/teryspataro

Social Media Graffiti

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Means of self expression and communication have change through out the ages. At one time cave paintings were the means of communication and in some cases self expression. Cave paintings turned into fine art turned into well you get the picture. Over the past 2 decades we’ve seen a new form of self expression in terms of social media.

Social media is the term used to explain self expression online whether through blogging, video, networks. It could be executed through popular programs like:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Often the community will part take in these forms of expressions by commenting and rating, whether it approves or disapproves there is an audience which propels the author.

Self expression and opinion has taken on a more grotesque form. Recently employees are assaulting the companies they work for. As in the case of Dominos we saw the YouTube video in which employees violate the integrity of the food made and served at Dominos and the brand.

This form of self expression is social graffiti. Like graffiti seen in real public spaces this form of graffiti is seen online in social networks like YouTube. Whether we like it or not social graffiti is here to stay as part of the freedom of self expression that digital media provides.