Archive for category Marketing
Sleeping with your mobile? You’re not alone.
Posted by Elizabeth Hoffman in Digital Trends, Marketing on September 10, 2012
In my current profession I study the use of mobile devices and how we can readily interact with one another to spread messages, incorporate branding and facilitate social change. As a result, I came across an article in CNN that really made me think. As a society, we are incredibly dependent on our mobile phones.
More than 88 percent of U.S. adults own cell phones and over half of all U.S. adults are smartphone owners. That means half of our society can pay their bills, check-in to locations, update their Facebook status, play with the stock market and more, directly from their mobile device 24/7. The result is making us an incredibly connected society and it’s changing everything from how we do business, how we make purchasing decisions and even how we date. In fact, 68 percent of us are so connected to our phones that we sleep with them at our bedside. With all of this hyper-connectivity at our finger tips, it sort of makes you wonder. How is this affecting our daily lives?
CNN is suggesting that the use of our smartphones is indeed making us smarter, more productive and what some would call even “superhuman”. This is the first time in history that we have been this connected and had everything we could ever imagine, accessible at our finger tips. With over 6 billion phones now on the planet, one for nearly every person on earth, in some third world countries people are more likely to have access to a mobile device than running water. So, in some ways, we have to wonder if there are negative consequences to such connectivity.
Of course, there is a downside. There is now a “phantom limb” association with cell phones. When you don’t have your phone around you, you’re constantly thinking about it and wanting to check your updates. Ironically as well, people may tend to hide behind their phone and not really be present and live in the moment. How many times have you been out to dinner with friends or at a sporting event and felt compelled to take a picture, instagram it and share it on Facebook with 500 of your closest friends. While you’re busy waiting for the spinning wheel of death to connect to your favorite social channel or determining if sepia is the best color for your latest photo, you may actually be missing the final score of the live match you paid tickets for or the punch line to your friends joke. So many of us are busy updating our status and sharing the interesting moments of our lives that we fail to be present and actually experience them. Ironically, our drive to be constantly connected can actually lead to more feelings of isolation.
Yes, whenever a new technology is introduced in society that disrupts our previous way of life, it does take some time to adjust and experience the downfalls. Yet, when used appropriately, it’s also a way to improve our daily lives and set forward into motion political and social movements. In fact, it was a mobile phone that recorded Tunisian fruit vendor set himself on fire, which initiated a wave of Arab Spring demonstrations. Being able to instantly record and share scenes around us has been able to bring awareness to issues that may have previously gone unnoticed. I relate it a lot to how the emergence of photography helped to spur the American Civil War. Yes, people had heard of slavery and knew of the mistreatment of other human beings, but when it became visible through photography, it somehow became more real. As a result, it helped to spur activism and a call for change.
So yes, at times, the mobile wave and revolution can seem scary in terms of all that it is uncovering. But I’m sure every age had its own concerns and fears for people living in them at the time, like the Industrial Revolution. The truth is there are positives and negatives that can be identified in each new age. The trick is to use this time to do more good with what we’ve been given and view the use of our constantly evolving mobile devices as more of a tool than a crutch. It’s helpful, yes, and it certainly makes us more productive. Yet it doesn’t mean we should shut off our brain or become disengaged with the world around us. It’s an enhancement to our daily lives, not a replacement.
Do you think we’re becoming too dependent on our mobile phones? I’d love to hear from you! Drop me a line at Elizabeth@ElizabethHoffman.org.
Why I’m Still Using Facebook Advertising – And How I Make It Work
Posted by Elizabeth Hoffman in Marketing on May 18, 2012
The other day I was crafting a targeted advertising campaign to take place on Facebook. Just as I was adding the final touches, I saw a story come up in my newsfeed announcing that GM was pulling its ads from the platform stating that they were ‘ineffective’. Immediately the social sphere buzz ensued, questioning everything from the platforms advertising effectiveness to its seemingly overblown IPO offering.
This isn’t a
nything we haven’t seen before. Yes, the presence of Facebook and its popularity is undeniable, but traditional marketers have long questioned the value in actual advertising on the platform. Unsurprisingly, even now when Facebook boasts close to a billion users, it can’t touch Google’s popular advertising platform. When push comes to shove, companies still prefer Google to Facebook for digital advertising. Partially, it’s because companies better understand how to use it and the goals are more definitive and digestible.
Google’s adverting popularity is strongly linked to its ability to up your SEO factor, a very clear and tangible goal which is certainly important. However, in order to use Facebook advertising in a successful matter, you can’t let your SEO ranking be your determining factor or the idea that you want to just link someone to your website. Different digital platforms require a different approach in order for you to find success. You have to have clear goals and understand how the unique platforms you’re using can help you get there. I have to wonder if this is something GM thought through thoroughly.
Personally, I have found a lot of success in using Facebook advertising. Last month alone I doubled the fan base of a business page and increased their level of engagement (number of people talking about them) by 40 percent. So yes, I still find Facebook advertising to be effective and I’ll continue to use it in the future. Here’s a simple set of guidelines that I use and that you can follow to find similar success:
1. Define Your Goal.
Is your goal to just build awareness? Do you want people to link back to your page, buy a product or go straight to your website? For businesses just beginning to grow their Facebook presence, a clear goal can be to add new fans to your page.
2. Target Your Campaign.
The power of Facebook is in its targeting. No, you’re not putting in key words that people are searching for to grab their attention and introduce your product or service; you’re targeting your actual customer. So, to start, this means you need to TRULY know who your customers are. You can narrow down who you want your ad to target by their age, geographic region, gender, and education level. If you want to be even more targeted, you can list businesses they may work for, other products they like and other interests that they have keyed in as part of their profile information.
For example, if you are promoting an event that will feature rock music, you can target your ad to reach users that list that type of music as music they enjoy. You can also segment your reach to target fans, friends of current fans, and overall nonfans. This can further align with your overall goal to either reach new people with your ad, or reach people that are already connected to you in some way.
3. Define Your Call to Action.
I don’t like to put up ads just to say “hey, like my fan page” or “buy this product” with a bland logo. That’s boring and cements that no one will click on your ad. Make them WANT to click on the ad or like your page. What’s in it for them? Have a clear, enticing call to action. To do this, I like to conduct ads as part of another promotion.
For example, if I’m having an event, my call to action is to RSVP for the event and then I link them to our page where they can find out more details. Or, I tie in another promotion such as a Facebook poll or quiz where participants have a chance to win a prize (something tangible). But there’s a catch, to view or participate, you have to like the page first. There is a question if people will just like the page first to participate and then leave. Yes, that can happen, but it doesn’t have to. Given my specific customer targeting and my constant list of incentives to engage people in the page, over 99 percent of new fans acquired this way end up staying fans and continue to stay engaged. Which leads me to my next point…
4. Don’t Get To Comfortable – Keep Things Interesting!
Once you get people to like your page (if that’s part of your call to action), don’t just sit there! Keep things interesting. Post new content, photos, quizzes, and continue to engage with and respond to your fans. Make it worthwhile for people to continue to check back with you.
5. Try New Things
Facebook advertising is just like playing around with new key words on Google. You have to try some strategies and fail to see what works for you and what doesn’t. Don’t be scared to try something new! You might be pleasantly surprised.
6. Understand Facebook Ads Don’t Work for Everything
There are cases where Facebook advertising may not make the most sense. Approaching Facebook like you would the classified section in a newspaper simply just isn’t effective. Think about it. When people scan the classifieds for a car, they are more than likely in the market for that item, so those ads speak to potential customers directly. That’s not the case with Facebook. People don’t go there to BUY stuff. People go on Facebook to engage, to communicate with their friends, to pass the time and much more. Therefore, you have to speak to someone who is already in that frame of mind. That’s why more calls to action for say quizzes and sharing stories and photos, are much more successful.
Facebook advertising goes along with your reason for having a Facebook page, it’s about brand building. You have to approach advertising on Facebook as you would a relationship. Many times, it’s your first introduction to your fans on the platform. One of my main goals for conducting Facebook ads is to connect with others that are on the platform and have them engage with our page, so that we can continue to build that relationship. Connectivity, sharing and relationship building is what Facebook is good at and where its success lies, which can be very powerful for brand building. If you’re using Facebook advertising with that focus and to build long lasting, meaningful relationships with your fans, you should find success with it as well.
Good luck!
What Your Degree Didn’t Prepare You For
Posted by Elizabeth Hoffman in Marketing on April 30, 2012
So we all know our economy is in a bit of a slump. You can’t turn on CNN or even browse the internet without hearing about how many millions of Americans are still out of work or underemployed. Yet, if you are in a company that is hiring, you may still find that there is a talent shortage out there.
Our economy has changed drastically in the last ten years and we haven’t trained enough of our workforce to compete in it. Ultimately, this is slowing our national economic recovery and having an effect on us as marketers.
Ten years ago there was no Facebook, no Twitter, no iPhone and no billion dollar acquisitions for fast growing start-ups like Instagram. The social movement and explosive tech advancements have changed the landscape in which we communicate with one another, market our product and essentially grow our business. While a lot of us know how to play in these arenas as users – there aren’t enough of us out there that truly understand how to interpret the data, create a successful marketing campaign, or how to actually code and design these social tools.
In fact, in my own company we’ve been looking to add to our team and we’re discovering that good talent is hard to find. We aren’t the only ones having this problem. It’s surprising that as a society, we haven’t modified our collegiate courses enough to keep up with the changes in our marketing field and economy. Sure, nearly every college graduate has a Facebook page and has probably engaged in some kind of social promotion in one way or another, but not nearly enough of them know about the KPI’s associated with social media or how to integrate that with a successful lead generation strategy. New marketing focused grads are then surprised to learn that it takes a lot longer to nail down that entry level job. Even though they’ve paid for that coveted college degree, they may still be lacking the real education required to make it relevant in today’s world.
So, I have some advice for college students, new grads and even seasoned professionals out there. Even though you may not be forced to learn or work closely within the digital marketing space, make it a personal goal of yours to learn at least one new thing each week about it. Even if the digital realm is not your main focus, it’s becoming vital to at least have some kind of understanding of SEO, social media engagement strategies and the digital space. As many marketing pros will tell you, marketing is about wearing many hats at any given time. Especially when an economy is tight, you’re forced to do more with less and the more tools you have in your toolbox, the more effective (and employable) you’ll be.
Not sure where to start? That’s ok. Scout out some of my favorite resources that don’t require a huge time commitment.
Skillshare – Discover classes taking place in your city and even online that are relevant to you. You can search by subject matter, area of interest and even receive alerts when a class is ready that you may be interested in.
AppSumo – Online classes that highlight new areas, programs, SEO strategies, emerging apps and more. Typically classes last anywhere from a half hour to an hour and some are even free. They don’t always have the most polished courses, but it does give you a good overview on important areas and programs if you need a quick tutorial.
AMA – If you haven’t already done so, I highly recommend that you sign up for the American Marketing Association. Annual membership is $47 for students, $105 for young professionals 3 years following graduation and $210 for professionals. It may seem pricey at first, but you get access to resources, job boards and free, awesome online courses that you can later download and access at anytime. I highly recommend it.
Have another tip? I’d love to hear from you! Email me at elizabeth@elizabethhoffman.org.
A Picture’s Worth (More) Than A Thousand Words
Posted by Elizabeth Hoffman in Marketing on April 5, 2012
Now that's an image that will catch your eye.
So as my last blog post suggested – we are becoming an increasingly visual society. We want things quick, easy, beautiful and easily digestible. That’s not to say we’ve stopped reading altogether, but let’s be honest, we are skimming more and more. So a picture, when done right, can say a thousand words and quickly convey a message without us having to look for the hidden meaning. Therefore, if you’re in marketing, you need to start altering your tactics to coincide with this growing trend. It’s time to step away from lengthy wording and fancy wordsmithing and start thinking more visually.
Don’t believe me? Checkout the transition to Facebook’s timeline (that became mandatory for businesses last month), the rise in infographics, the popularity of instagram and oh yea, that little social app called Pinterest. What do all of these things have in common? They focus their efforts on being visual and appealing. The more stimulating, beautiful and shocking you can be, the better.
Now some of you might be saying “well, gee, thanks for the obvious tip, but I’m not in retail, photography or the beauty industry, so this doesn’t really apply to me”. Not true. Even if you’re in software, health care or business to business marketing, you can still take advantage of this trend. The trick of course is to be creative.
Think of your customers, your community, your message and what you want to convey. If you’re in software for instance, you don’t have to post pictures of your wires or screen shots of your program. Look more towards the big picture. What does your software DO for its customers? Does it improve communities or workflow? Share photos that portray the overall message of your business as well as any related items that your customers may care about. If you’re in business to business marketing, ask for images and photos from your clients business along with success stories. Make it worthwhile for them to check in with you, comment back and help them to convey their message as well. After all, the end result is to increase your interaction and level of engagement – the best way to do that is to make the first move!
So go out there, take photos and start sharing images. You might be pleasantly surprised by what you’ll find!
Visual.ly Pleasing
Posted by Elizabeth Hoffman in Marketing on March 14, 2012
If you’ve been on Facebook at all in the last couple of months, you’ve probably noticed an increase in infographics. The cool, colorful maps and images that take useful data and display it in a visually fun and pleasing way.
Who doesn’t love infographics? They’re fun, engaging, playful and educating. They are able to take lots of complex and seemingly useless data and turn it into an easy to grasp, exciting and artistic display. Their aesthetically pleasing nature with fun colors and images, help to educate your colleagues and even your consumers, on upcoming trends and important information that may have normally gone unnoticed.
Typically, unless you have a graphic designer at your disposal or are willing to shell out to have a professional infographic created, it’s hard to really play in this arena. Especially if you’re a small business owner or working on a tight budget. But that doesn’t mean you have to sit this trend out.
Visual.ly is one of my new favorite start-ups to watch for marketing professionals. Through their site, you can literally create customized infographics that are sexy and appealing in seconds. They have built-in templates and portals already for social media graphing. So you can compare Twitter accounts, follow hashtag trends and more.
As a test, I took my beloved alma mater, Michigan State University, and decided to compare their Twitter presence to our rival, the University of Michigan. All I had to do was enter in both twitter handles and voila ~ instant infographic! (shown to the right)
Now yikes – what does that infographic tell me? Basically it shows that MSU has some work to do (for the record, posting this actually proves how unbiased I am). How do I know that? Well this instant infographic pulled up information from both Twitter accounts instantly and was able to give me a full breakdown on the number of followers, mentions, tweets, levels of engagement and much more. I’m able to see that, unfortunately, U of M is beating us in those categories.
Can you see how this information is helpful to marketers? You can instantly compare your brands, see where you’re lagging and make adjustments accordingly. This is especially useful when watching hashtag trends and histories. If I’m trending something on twitter, I want to know where my hashtags are going, how they’re doing, who’s using them the most and why. I then want to compare that with my competitors and I especially want to look at emerging hashtags to spot trends earlier, as they happen. For example, if I run a restaurant in Brooklyn, I might want to view the hashtag graphs for food cravings and mentions to keep my menu current. I then may want to use those fun infographics to share with my customers on a fun marketing campaign to make it personal to them.
Now, there is a catch. Right now, the free services on Visual.ly are pretty limited. You can really only compare Twitter accounts, Facebook profiles and view hashtag trends. However, they are looking to expand into more meatier areas like politics, business and even looking at personalization. So you can eventually take your own data to create an infographic of your choosing. You can still do that now, but it comes with a small fee.
Either way, I think it’s a fun, clever idea that is anything but a fad. Marketers have had to think more and more about data sets and the use of that data to meet the needs of their clients, CFOs, CEOs and potential business partners. On top of that, to appeal to customers you have to make things fun and engaging – which is exactly what an infographic does. The visualization of data and graphs are the natural progression for our data driven era and something we all must keep in our sights. What will you graph next?
Falling in Love With Siri & What That Means for SEO
Posted by Elizabeth Hoffman in Marketing on March 7, 2012
Those of us with an iPhone 4S have slowly been falling in love, with Siri. For those of you that aren’t aware of what Siri is, it’s a voice activated semi ‘personal assistant’ for owners of the iPhone 4S. She can help you organize information, answer questions, give you directions, send text messages and so much more. She’s fun, witty and dang it, she seems to have all the answers! No longer are we forced to take that extra step and ‘Google’ or tap into our latest app to find the answers to our most pressing questions. We just ask Siri. But yikes, what does that mean for those of us in marketing? Well, essentially it means you have to rethink your SEO strategy.
Now, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is well known in the world of digital marketing to keep your website top of mind in Google, Yahoo and other search engines. It’s a prime way to gain digital traffic by utilizing keywords that your potential customers are using to find information – and if you use it right, you! Siri has its own way of using keywords to find information its users are looking for. Apple has kept the source of Siri’s information somewhat hush-hush, but what we do know is that Siri is using more and more local data to give you the answers you need.
For example, if you’re on the corner of 3rd Avenue & 33rd Street in New York City and you ask “Siri, where can I find some seriously amazing sushi?” Siri will pull up sushi restaurants, likely using yelp and other local sources around you, in your proximity. Your location of course has already been identified via the gps data that’s already registered in your phone. So when Siri says there’s a great sushi place just one block from you on 34th Street – you immediately think she’s a genius and skip onward, happily.
So, this doesn’t mean SEO is on the outs – it just means its evolving. Siri is simply using the additional information provided by your phone data to customize searches for your specific needs. So for marketers, this means we need to start targeting our keywords and strategies to more local mediums when it makes sense, like Facebook, Yelp and Foursquare, to come up during local searches. Also, keep in mind that the phrases people use for web searches will be different compared to what they’re vocalizing through the phone. So slang words and phrases should be considered as well.
There you have it. The world of SEO is constantly evolving but you can stay up-to-date and top of mind. Keep your message consistent, your keywords inclusive, localize your outreach, and keep watching for evolving trends to keep your web and mobile traffic flowing. Good luck!
Twitter Helps Out Reporters
Posted by Elizabeth Hoffman in Marketing on February 15, 2012
There’s no doubt that journalists are combing social media platforms for story ideas and the next big scoop. Twitter in fact was credited for breaking the news on the death of the late Whitney Houston. Once the story started trending on Twitter – it exploded and everyone from your best friend to your grandmother knew about the singer’s passing.
While Facebook is great for targeted marketing, Twitter has the upper hand when it comes to breaking stories. As a result, Twitter is becoming more and more useful for reporters, which in turn allows us as marketers to use the platform to connect with more traditional forms of media. So, with journalists consistently watching Twitter for leads and stories, it was only a matter of time before a platform was created for journalists to do just that.
This week Mashable reported that Twitter is developing a Seriously Rapid Source Review (SRSR) product that will pull in key information reporters are looking for. With over 290 million tweets recorded each day, the product is being designed to help reporters weed through millions of tweets so they can more easily find what they need. To improve story credibility, a feature is being added to identify eyewitnesses with 89% accuracy, so sources can more accurately be confirmed. They’re even incorporating an automatic fact checking filter. For example, if someone in Michigan tweeted that they just saw Beyonce entering a hospital in New York City, the SRSR will discredit that information so reporters don’t have to chase down a false lead.
Neat, huh? The SRSR is still being developed but the concept is an exciting one. It’s a tool that not only can be helpful for reporters, but also for PR professionals and Marketers to keep an eye on upcoming trends and connect with linear media. Right now, PR professionals and Marketers can utilize their current relationships with reporters to pitch stories, or comb the Help A Reporter Out (HARO) Publicity Alerts section to serve as a source. However, this new Twitter tool could help to further streamline that process.
I for one am excited to see this software tool launch and ready to see how it will change the way reporters and marketers work together. It should be interesting! What would you like to see incorporated in this tool?
Are You Getting Lost in Committees?
Posted by Elizabeth Hoffman in Marketing on February 10, 2012
Picture this.
Your company is launching a new product and there are several types of customers that could benefit from it. You need this product to be a success. It’s important to you, your co-workers, your boss, your board of directors and anyone else associated with your company. So what do you do? You are told to form a committee and so off you go. 3 months later, you find yourself at yet another 2 hour meeting with 30 different committee members, all from different backgrounds and agendas, and not a single theme, message or collateral piece has been agreed upon. You’re frustrated, your boss is annoyed and frankly your dog at home doesn’t like your new attitude.
Sound familiar?
Look, it makes sense. We want to incorporate everyone in our branding process and it’s important to get feedback from different people. Yet somewhere down the line we become so busy over-thinking what could go wrong and what we could miss, that we over-complicate the process and never end up making any decisions. It’s quite common and something we as marketers are all too familiar with. So what’s a marketer to do? Here are some tips I’ve found helpful to navigate the committee territory.
1. Be Honest
Do you really need a committee for the project you’re working on? Input is always important, but structuring a committee may not be the best way to go about the process. Sometimes it’s best to identify a list of questions or topics from different people and incorporate those points into the overall campaign or project. For a product launch that involves a new business partner or new market, a committee could be extremely helpful. Yet in cases where you’re just repackaging an item, it may not be necessary.
2. Be Selective
Make sure those that are invited to be on the committee will benefit the project. It doesn’t have to be a Who’s Who of the company resources, sometimes less is more. Make sure you have a varied background that can contribute to the overall success of the project, but don’t go overboard.
3. Set Definitive Goals
You have to know what you’re working towards. If you don’t have clear goals, it’ll be hard for your committee to rally around the subject matter. Everyone wants the project to be successful; they just may have different ideas on how to get there. Making goals and objectives as clear as possible (use actual numbers and metrics when possible) will help everyone to focus on the big picture and why you’re all there in the first place.
4. Set an Agenda
Having a clear agenda and sticking to it will help everyone to stay on track to accomplish the goals and tasks at hand. Be sure to recap the main points from previous meetings and have specific take away points from your current committee meeting. Everyone should have a task and a follow-up item to report on for next time. This ensures that progress is happening, which helps to energize everyone and also helps everyone to feel like they are part of the process.
5. Have a Clear Timeline
Make sure your timeline is clear. Give due dates and if you can avoid it, don’t modify the timeline. If there is a loose deadline, it’s much easier for people to mull over items and delay making decisions that need to be made.
6. Listen Up!
There are 7 billion people in the world so chances are there are a lot of great ideas out there (and yes, some of them may not even belong to you!). It can be frustrating to change direction in the middle of a project but if someone brings forward a compelling idea that could enhance the project overall, be open to it. Putting personal agendas to the side will help you to look at things more objectively, which can only help add to your success. If not everyone on your committee is as open as you are, be the example. Sometimes just seeing that someone else is actively listening and open to new ideas makes it ok for others to do the same.
So there you have it. Some simple, straight forward tips that can hopefully help everyone on your committee to feel more effective. Remember there is a value in forming committees when they’re done right. After all, there’s a reason why there are so many committees in the first place, right?
Have another idea or point to share? I’d love to hear from you! Feel free to submit your suggestions to elizabeth@elizabethhoffman.org. I promise I won’t even make you join a committee!
