Insights for Leaders Navigating
Visibility, Credibility, and Growth.
From media strategy to reputation management, we explore the trends shaping public perception and share the approaches that drive measurable results for growing brands.
With the proliferation of smartphones, location-based marketing is the latest buzzed about topic. Recently, an article in the Wall Street Journal explained how companies with retail outlets such as restaurants, retail stores and other small businesses can use location-based social networks to increase foot traffic to their storefronts.
Location-based social networks, such as Facebook Places, foursquare, Gowalla, and Brightkite allow users to share their locations through their phones’ GPS and “check in.” These check-ins allow consumers to share with their friends and social networks what shops or restaurants they visit. This provides marketers with an opportunity to engage with these consumers in a more direct manner.
After a customer checks in at a store, their recent geo-location updates are accessible to the store manager including frequently visited stores based on their Mayor status as well as if customers posted any tips about what they like or don’t like in the store. For example a Bluebird Ice Cream patron recently posted, “Get the snicker doodle ice cream because it is damn tasty!” This provides businesses with instant insight into customers’ preferences.
Businesses can easily leverage these networks to help build awareness, increase store traffic, drive sales and connect with customers.
Here are four ways businesses can leverage location-based social networks:
1. Getting the word out there. Hyper-local marketing has never been so easy. Just letting people know that you are in the neighborhood can draw them to the store. For instance, a person standing on Broadway, a thriving a
rea in Seattle, can check into FourSquare to get a list of all the nearby restaurants and access information from their networks of friends, as well as special offers from the surrounding establishments.
2. Offer something special. Specials can entice customers into your business. For instance, Mediterranean Express on Broadway in Seattle lures customers by offering, “First 5 customers who check in before 11:45 a.m. will get a free soda with their meal.” Whereas Juicy Couture’s current offer entices customers to check in at the store and show the manager to receive a free sample of its Peace Love & Juicy Couture fragrance.
3. Build loyalty. The ability to build loyalty and attract repeat business is the key to successful geo-marketing campaigns. With these networks, companies can give customers a reason to keep coming back. Recently, PCC was offering a free cookie to shoppers when they check in three times. Consider these other giveaways:
4. Get consumer insights. Real-time data about users – such as gender, frequency of visits, time of day they check in, total number of unique visitors – provides invaluable insight into consumer behavior that marketers can leverage to tweak campaigns. For instance, if more men visit an electronic store between 7 to 10 p.m. then the store manager could consider offering services that would be of higher interest to men rather than women.
To get started, a business owner or marketing manager should first create a profile for the business on the network, or if a profile already exists in the database then they can claim it, and ensure it is complete and accurate. He or she can then encourage customers to check in online by placing prominent signs in the store, or at the cash register, as well as on Twitter and Facebook.
Once you get started, there are many possibilities. Don’t wait. Leverage location-based marketing to drive your business now!
By now, most people are aware that Twitter is currently rolling out several new features, which have now been dubbed the “new Twitter.” Personally, I’m still among the unlucky few who still don’t have the new updates (Twitter is slowly rolling them out to everyone) – despite the fact that I run four Twitter accounts for various clients and personal reasons. With that said, I’ve read many of the reviews and rants on the new features (namely embedded videos and photos and the ability to drill down on a user without refreshing the page), and I want to summarize some of the trends I’m seeing.
The people who love the new platform and features:
- Overall, advocates of the features appreciate that Twitter has taken notice of the many complaints people have about the web interface. Additionally, many believe the new platform will encourage fresh ways of consuming digital content which is good for advertising. Someone in my personal Twitter stream summed up the overall sentiment in this group nicely by saying, “If Twitter’s plan with the new roll-out was to make it more addicting, they have succeeded marvelously!”
- All Things Digital’s Katie Boehret was pleasantly surprised by the new features. Boehret notes, “So I was surprised to find that the new site offers a good number of fresh features that enhance the social-network experience. The site now works a lot like its own app, with fewer clicks needed to navigate and more ways to see content without leaving the current Web page. The site is noticeably faster with more pleasing visuals and easier ways to follow or unfollow others.”
- ClickZ sees dollar signs in the new interface saying, “This design will attract more readers rather than tweeters, as information on Twitter is now much easier to consume for the average user. And what are readers great for? Readers consume digital advertising.” With the improved ability to consume digital content, it won’t be long before advertisers figure out a way to leverage the new Twitter to reach consumers.
- Additionally, The New York Times’ Paul Boutin thinks positively of the redesign due to the emphasis on exploring content and simplifying the search functionality, two things that are regularly on a Twitter user’s gripe list.
The people who think the new platform and features are lacking:
- Overall, proponents of the new features, argue this is too little too late – A common complaint when companies roll-out features after many months of public issues.
- ZDNet’s Jason Hiner thinks Twitter should have spent its time and efforts on other aspects of the platform. Contrary to popular opinion that the company denies it is a “social network,” Hiner wished Twitter would have created more conversation-friendly features such as threaded conversations and the ability to vote.
- Another opinion from cyber security experts say, “the more new features Facebook and Twitter add, the more spammers can be expected to search out fresh security holes — and exploit them until technicians respond,” according to USA Today.
Overall, I think the new features have been positively received. By making the Web interface more interactive and visually appealing, Twitter.com has reinserted itself into the race for the best application to access Twitter feeds. However, when it comes to upgrading and understanding a company’s needs for the platform, I think they’ve still missed the mark. Social media managers do not want to log onto the website every time they want to check their stream or make a tweet. The instant access provided by third-party applications such as Seesmic or Tweetdeck is much more business friendly. Additionally, many social media managers, like me, maintain more than one Twitter handle, which is nearly impossible on the current Web version unless you want to log on and off each time you toggle accounts.
Do you have the new Twitter? What do you think so far? Do you think my opinion will change once I’m able to experience it first hand?
In the past two weeks several of our clients have asked us about link baiting, the practice of creating valuable content for one’s website that encourages people to link to it from other websites. This practice is popular with some companies and individuals because the quantity and quality of inbound links are two of the many metrics used by a search engine ranking algorithm to rank a website – meaning the company with more quality inbound links will appear higher in searches via Google or Yahoo.
To learn more about the practice and pitfalls of link baiting, we reached out to several experts and learned the following:
- It’s acceptable. There is nothing wrong with the practice of link baiting from a moral or ethical practice. In fact, according to Joel Johnson, with Response Mine Interactive, “the practice of link baiting is one of the few forms of link building approved by Google, which endorses a model of links based upon content.” He went on to explain link baiting has the potential to create a substantial number of powerful links. So, all in all, this has the potential to be one of the safest and strongest forms of link building.
- Nonetheless, the practice of link baiting is not without challenges. One of the pitfalls is that creating compelling content can be time and resource consuming. Furthermore, it is not easy to figure out what content is going to be commented on or capture people’s attention. An organization may invest considerable time developing content that it believes is going to be successful in attracting link backs only to find it falls flat and is a costly failure.
- Stay within the spirit of your brand. From a corporate reputation or thought-leadership perspective, organizations need think about their overarching objectives when creating content for link baiting. Clearly, one does not want to create provocative content to drive link backs at the expense of alienating key audiences. Posting controversial material on one’s website as a ploy to drive comments or links can backfire if the content does not support your organization’s brand or thought leadership goals. One way to ensure content is supportive of an organization’s goals is to involve the PR or communications team in a discussion about it.
- Remember your reputation can be enhanced (or damaged) by the company you keep. When engaging in the practice of link baiting, it is essential that a company review each link before just accepting the link back. You want to avoid accepting links from sites creating spam as these links will clutter up your website and have the potential to damage your organization’s character. One SEO expert recommends only linking to sites that have a Google page rank of three or more and that you feel provide excellent value. Click here for a free page rank checker.
Like any other marketing tactics, when done right link baiting or link building can be very effective, however, it can also be expensive and time consuming. Attention-grabbing or gimmicky content is likely to attract the wrong traffic so be careful when engaging in this practice. Remember if you’re authentic, truly adding value or providing useful information to key audiences you are likely to see people naturally commenting and linking back to your content.
Earlier this week I attended a panel discussion called, “Piercing the Clouds: Emerging Opportunities in Cloud Computing” sponsored by the MIT Enterprise Forum. The panel featured cloud computing experts from Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Real Networks to discuss the opportunities, pitfalls and trends surrounding cloud computing.
Cloud computing is defined by Wiktionary as, “Computing in which services and storage are provided over the Internet (or “cloud”) and can include popular Web-based services such as Gmail, Pandora, Facebook and YouTube, virtual server storage solutions such as Amazon Web Services and product development tools such as Google Apps.”
The panel experts agreed that cloud computing is one of the most significant disruptive technologies in recent memory and it is here to stay. In fact, analyst firm Gartner predicts the cloud computing market is, “poised for strong growth through 2014, when worldwide cloud services revenue is projected to reach $148.8 billion.” One of the panel observations I found to be interesting is that the proliferation of mobile computing devices including mobile phones, iPads and e-readers has been one of the key drivers of consumer-driven cloud computing apps. However, the panelists believe that cloud computing will penetrate the enterprise further as the barriers surrounding trust and reliability of accessing content are broken and companies begin to view of cloud computing as a business model rather than a trend.
One thing is clear, cloud computing is not just a trend but represents a significant shift in how we access information and content. We work with several clients in various industries that touch the cloud and it will be interesting to see how this technology will evolve both consumption of content, and business models for organizations.
Earlier this week I attended a panel discussion called, “Piercing the Clouds: Emerging Opportunities in Cloud Computing” sponsored by the MIT Enterprise Forum. The panel featured cloud computing experts from Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Real Networks to discuss the opportunities, pitfalls and trends surrounding cloud computing.
Cloud computing is defined by Wiktionary as, “Computing in which services and storage are provided over the Internet (or “cloud”) and can include popular Web-based services such as Gmail, Pandora, Facebook and YouTube, virtual server storage solutions such as Amazon Web Services and product development tools such as Google Apps.”
The panel experts agreed that cloud computing is one of the most significant disruptive technologies in recent memory and it is here to stay. In fact, analyst firm Gartner predicts the cloud computing market is, “poised for strong growth through 2014, when worldwide cloud services revenue is projected to reach $148.8 billion.” One of the panel observations I found to be interesting is that the proliferation of mobile computing devices including mobile phones, iPads and e-readers has been one of the key drivers of consumer-driven cloud computing apps. However, the panelists believe that cloud computing will penetrate the enterprise further as the barriers surrounding trust and reliability of accessing content are broken and companies begin to view of cloud computing as a business model rather than a trend.
One thing is clear, cloud computing is not just a trend but represents a significant shift in how we access information and content. We work with several clients in various industries that touch the cloud and it will be interesting to see how this technology will evolve both consumption of content, and business models for organizations.
By now most people on Twitter understand they should not tweet information they would not be willing to say into a microphone. There have been countless examples to illustrate how even if you don’t have a lot of followers, a tweet can reach a broad audience.
In the 1990s people learned valuable lessons about communicating via e-mail with unintended flame mails, attempted humor that was misunderstood, or accidentally hitting reply all when the message was intended for only one person. Social media presents similar challenges.
One specific challenge that has not been widely discusses is considering the perceptions created by a post or tweet. As a PR professional, perhaps I am more focused on perceptions than most. However, I think it is important for people engaging in social media to consider not only what they are communicating, but how that information may be perceived by others. Short messages of 140 characters do not afford an opportunity to provide context and individuals who do not know you may misinterpret your message.
For some people, this may not seem like a big deal or worth further thought. But consider the following:
- A C-level executive posts photos of her high-end vacation to her Facebook profile, which is seen by recently laid off employees, existing employees, customers and partners.
- A social media “expert” only responds to tweets from other “experts.” (See recent blog post from PR Geek Speak “Social Media High School”)
- A professional spokesperson tweets about being away from home *again* while on the road promoting his own book.
In each of these instances, the actual content is not inappropriate, but it could create negative perceptions that are counter to the individuals’ objectives.
We all need to consider how information we share will be received by multiple audiences. It is not enough to ask, “Is this information appropriate for broad dissemination?” Instead, one must think about how people will feel when they see the information being shared. Other questions to consider:
- Are you reinforcing your personal brand?
- What key messages are you delivering?
- How does this align with your personal and professional objectives?
Each tweet and post you share is a reflection of you and your judgment – with the potential for unintended consequences – so make sure you think carefully about each and every Facebook update and tweet.