Sunday, 03/14/2010 2:15PM – 3:15PM , Room 159

The New England Food Show | Boston Convention & Exhibition Center – Boston, MA

For busy restaurateurs, mid-level and senior marketing professionals and HR managers, keeping up with the rapid pace of social media can be daunting. With new social media websites, blogs, video sharing sites and applications appearing almost weekly, new opportunities are always on the horizon. In this workshop, you will learn how to plan, execute and measure a successful social media campaign and how to create policies to protect your brand and avoid legal trouble!

Learn how to:

• prepare and implement internal policies to protect your brand and reputation
• plan an effective strategy
• use analytics and other tools to measure success
• use custom Facebook applications to maximize social media return on investment
• integrate email and print to improve customer experience and increase profits
• create a community of fans and friends
• share photos, videos, notes, news
• publicize events
• support causes
• create polls and surveys to get valuable customer feedback
• paid advertising opportunities
• run promotions and contests

For more information or to register online visit NEFSexposcom

Thursday, 04/1/2010 7:00PM

Flint Memorial Library | North Reading, MA

Presented by: Dan Green, President, The Green Internet Group

For entrepreneurs, mid-level and senior marketing professionals and HR managers.

Over 18 months ago marketing budgets were slashed by  business owners and corporate executives looking to conserve cash during the recent economic downturn. As confidence returns businesses are reinvesting in marketing . However 18 months is a long time and much as changed. Despite the hype and proliferation of self -proclaimed “social media marketing experts” few businesses have truly harnesses the power of social media. Worse, many have spent significant resources with little or no return on investment in social media.

Find out what works, what doesn’t and how measure results so you can decide whether investing in social media is right for your business.

Learn how to:

• prepare and implement internal policies to protect your brand and reputation
• plan an effective strategy
• use analytics and other tools to measure success
• use custom Facebook applications to maximize social media return on investment
• integrate email and print to improve customer experience and increase profits
• create a community of fans and friends
• share photos, videos, notes, news
• publicize events
• support causes
• create polls and surveys to get valuable customer feedback
• paid advertising opportunities
• run promotions and contests

For more information call 866.506.1923

A convincing argument that social media has evolved from passing fad to seismic shift in online communications.

In another deal Microsft’s Bing will also include Twitter feeds in its search results thus bringing real time search to the Web. While Twitter feeds have always been public they needed to be accessed using Twitter search or Twitter apps.

However the Microsoft deal with Twitter is non-exclusive and Google isn’t about to let Microsoft have the spotlight or a foot into real-time search alone. Marissa Mayer, Vice President of Search Products and User Experience, announced today that Google will be including Twitter’s feed in their search results as well.

Still with Facebook’s 300 million users, Bing has quickly become a much stronger player in search and perhaps their deal with Facebook will reverse recent the slide user activity. How much of data becomes available and how it will be prioritized remains to be seen as do the financial details. But it appears that Twitter has finally found a way to generate revenue. I wouldn’t be surprised to see premium services on the horizon. Give Bing’s Twitter search a try and see for yourself.

Just remember when you answer the question “What are you doing?”, Google Bing will know. As a marketing consultant I’m excited. As a search engine optimization consultant I’m used to constant changes. As a citizen I’m thinking TMI on steroids. How about you-what impact do you think these deals will make on search, privacy and the way we communicate?  You can DM me at Twitter.  For now it’s just between the two of us.

The world has gone wireless, and new media marketing has taken on a life of its own. But what does it mean to SMS text, tweet, friend, or become a fan?

In this seminar, we’ll explore how:

• Social media has impacted marketing strategies and mobile exposure.
• Brand interaction, lead generation, and coupons through SMS texting can maximize your message.
• Social networking through sites like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter can build new business and grow your presence in the online community.

New media marketing has changed the way businesses and consumers communicate and interact. This seminar will show you how to get connected.

Please note this seminar is recognized by the American Culinary Federation. Chefs who attend this seminar will earn two continuing education hours.

Date and Time:
October 14, 2009
1 pm – 3 pm

Location:
CaptureCode
1000 Winter Street, Suite 4000
Waltham, MA 02151

Cost:
MRA Members: $55
Non-MRA
Members: $75

Who should attend:
Owners, Managers, and Assistant Managers

You can watch the entire video on YouTube by clicking here.

Another resume for a “Social Media Marketing Expert”  landed on my desk. Every month, I see several of these. But for some reason, this one grabbed my attention. I didn’t examine the curious sense of importance I subconsciously attached to this particular resume but I think I knew why–I’m looking for the moron who was Twittering at the movies the other night so I can waterboard him.

Okay, I can’t be sure he was Twittering. But despite 50 feet of Technicolor straight ahead of me, once the glare of his Blackberry seared my retina, this jerk became the focus of all my attention. Attempting to count his thumb strokes, I determined that his manic bursts never exceeded 140 characters. Aha! Must be Twitter. Besides, he reekked of self-involvement that seemed clearly at odds with his lack of self-consciousness. I bet those were his best sweatpants-nice choice.

Looking at the resume again, I decided to set up a phone appointment to see why the candidate so freely used the term “expert.” To me, that implies some track record of success and I wanted to find out more about how he defined a successful social media campaign. I suppose to protect his real world reputation we should give him a name. Let’s call him Earl. I made the call.

After the introductions and diversionary pleasantries I began the interrogation. “So Earl, tell me about your most successful social media initiative”.“Well, what do you mean by success” he asked. “No, Earl, that’s the point” I said in a tone that masked my premature frustration. But I knew where this was going. “What do YOU mean by success?”

“For Company X, I used Twitter to talk about my client’s company. I watched for trends and made direct contacts with some who looked like good potential customers. We ended up with over 350 followers for this thread and got a lot of traffic to the company website. I also found blogs that looked like they might be read by prospective customers and I participated in those. I linked to some videos on YouTube, then …” With visions of water pouring over Earl’s hooded head I interrupted. I couldn’t take it anymore, not another one of these guys.

“Hold on a second Earl. I was at the movies the other night and swear I saw a guy a couple of rows in front of me doing pretty much the same thing. The clients I answer to might want some details. You know, pesky things like what was the total investment? How much incremental revenue was attributable to marketing ? What was the return on marketing ? What was the estimated value of media exposures achieved? What was the media exposure return on marketing investment and how was that calculated? Given current economic conditions, marketers are being held accountable for performance. How to you quantify success? ” I knew I was being tough. If only he hadn’t said he was an expert. Or if he owned up to being the guy in the theater.

There was a pause. I could hear him thinking Wow, that’s cool. I didn’t know you could measure that stuff. Finally Earl explained his concept of success. “I create buzz by starting conversations. I get people to my clients’ website without their having to buy media or pay for clicks. Social media is about transparency.”

“Excuse me Earl, but you did all this for free? And you represented yourself as a marketer for Company X”?

We talked for another minute or two and that was that. Earl never confessed to assaulting me with his Blackberry. Even if he was the guy in the theater, I don’t think he had the capacity to understand that he did anything wrong. After all, he was a social media marketer on the job. Maybe he is right. After all, the movie was Gran Torino with Clint Eastwood. I confess that had some degree of influence. But be advised. Social marketers without success metrics better stay off my lawn.

What’s your story? Can you tell a colorful story that paints, from a customer perspective, a vivid picture of what it’s like to do business with your company? Describe every interaction at each of your touch points. Before you can make the social web work for your business, be certain you and everyone in your company can tell the same story to every customer.

Your story may start with someone answering the phone. How many times does it ring? What does the person answering your phone to greet your customer say? Perhaps your typical customer experience starts with a physical visit to your store, office or practice. What does the customer see, smell, hear–what grabs his or her attention immediately. Be a fly on the wall and describe the conversation between the customer and the person representing your company. Let’s give him a name and job description. How about Beau? (Why not Beau–you have a problem with Beau?) Beau is a salesperson. He may have other duties but at this moment of truth, your first customer touch point, Beau is a member of your sales team–and your marketing department.

In a retail environment with a typically short sales cycle, examine every touch point all the way through checkout including where Beau warmly thanks the customer for coming in. If yours is a professional service business with a longer sales cycle, describe exactly how you want the customer to experience very step in your lead nurturing process.

Putting words to this experience will enable you to consistently communicate to each of your employees exactly what is critical for every customer to experience. This experience is what your customers are talking about. If the experience exceeds their expectations they will create buzz. If it falls short, they will quickly forget you or create the kind of buzz you’ve worked extremely hard to avoid.

You may not realize it but your customers are describing this experience–on social communities like Yelp, shopping portals like Amazon, Biz Rate and in increasing volumes on Facebook and Twitter.

If you are a traditional marketer you may find yourself quite uncomfortable with this concept. Traditional marketers are used to doing all the talking. From mass media to more direct methods such as direct mail, email or print advertising, traditional marketers set an expectation. If the creative is good, it also begins to tell a story–the story you want to believe is true. But it’s the customer’s experience that determines which story gets told. This is especially true online.

In large numbers customers are looking to online reviews before making any buying decisions. Their numbers increase daily, spurred by tough economic conditions where every dollar counts. Their stories are the ones that matter, because it’s the one that will be told to friends, family, and co-workers. Oh yeah, they’ll also probably tell tens of thousands of others by writing about it on their Facebook pages and other social networks. If their experience was memorable, good or bad, you can bet you’ll get “Tweeted” about on Twitter.

This is part of marketing today that makes traditional marketers so uncomfortable. The customers are in control. You don’t get to do all the talking anymore. So what should you do about this?

First, make sure the experience you describe when doing the suggested story telling exercise is one that can be told and lived by everyone who interacts with your customers. If you can’t tell it, you can’t expect an Oscar winning performance by your staff. The primary generator of negative buzz is failure to live up to expectations.

Next, take a tour of MySpace, Facebook, and other sites that allow customer feedback and reviews. Yahoo Local and Google Local are a good place to start. Try to locate your business and see if there’s a conversation online you didn’t know about. If you stumble upon a bad review resist the temptation to write your own review or address any conflicts online–not yet. If your business is not listed you’ve stumbled upon a huge opportunity. Get listed on critical local search engines and social community websites.

Get a feel for the culture and tone of each site. Learn the lingo, what generates interest, what’s okay and what isn’t. Keep the bit in your teeth and don’t say anything yet. Words have an extremely long online shelf life. On social networks it’s important to learn how to listen before you start talking. Trying to undo a rookie mistake can be a daunting and expensive task.

If you find enough people telling your story differently than you tell it, start by taking a fearless look at your operations, examine every touch point and get to work on the story-telling fluency of everyone at your company. Make sure the same story is told to every customer. Once you have accomplished that, you’re finally ready to engage the online social community.

Next time we’ll discuss how to get started participating in online communities, how to handle negative buzz and how to use tools like twitter to stay a step ahead of your competitors.

Part one of a recent client engagement was to evaluate their past email marketing efforts. We found a lot of the same mistakes that other businesses , large and small, make every day. The email software providers aren’t to blame, except maybe for making it seem too easy. And most have good information on their websites. But obviously the best practices are not being read there. So on the fat chance that they’ll be read here I thought I’d share the most commonly made email marketing mistakes small business make and some advice on how to avoid them.

Know your readers preferences.

With and more people reading their emails via mobile devices it’s important to pay extra attention to layout and text version of your message. Test your message on a Blackberry-you’ll understand why re-thinking design is critical especially if the read on mobile first trends contuse-and it will.

Test Before You Send

Don’t limit your testing to mobile devices. A typical subscriber list consists of people using various versions of Outlook, Yahoo, Gmail, AOL, and several other popular email clients. It’s likely your messages will look different in each. So keep the design simple and stick to some core design and spam compliance best practices.

Design Simply

Do not use Microsoft Word as your HTML editor-just don’t. Keep you message width at 600 pixels or below. Code simply. If you are not an HTML expert-keep things simple. Different clients rendering HTML differently. Use tables or if you must us CSS, use it inline. Webmail clients are notorious for wreaking havoc on CSS divs, especially Gmail. They’ll also strip out DOCTYPE, BODY, and HEAD tags .So use your CSS inline or better yet code cleanly and by hand using tags. Make sure your images are hosted on a fast pubic server not an intranet or secure server Don’t ignore the text version of your message. Read it carefully-it could be the only version of your message an important prospect sees.

Avoiding Spam

Spam filters are getting better—thankfully. But this presents a challenge for email marketers. Here are some common mistakes I see frequently when evaluating new client’s in-house email campaigns:

» Don’t send one big image as the message. This is a definite red flag spam filters look for.

» Don’t use too many colors of fonts, especially red and green. After all Christmas is but once a year. Besides making your message look like a  middle school bake sale flyer-it’s a spam trigger.

» Don’t use all caps and limit or eliminate exclamation points. Use of !!! has become rampant in general but carrying it over to email is guaranteed to put more of your messages into spam-so stop, okay! The same goes for other punctuation like quotations. Spam filters work on a point system. With enough minor deviation you can end up with a major deliverability problem.

» Don’t use words associated with spam. I assume if you’re running an online pharmacy or a financial scam from Nigeria you aren’t reading our blog but I guarantee a phrase like “Cheap V*I*A*G*R*A form Nigeria-FREE shipping” will end up in spam. Check your spam folder and look at the messages—you’ll see these and many other spam triggering words and phrases used repeatedly.

Don’t give up on email because of a few disappointing campaigns. There’s more to it than the advertising tells you-but it’s worth the effort. It’s one of the best ways to stop losing your best customers.

I was working with an auto dealer who was determined to market his way through these tough times and asked for some help in evaluating his current Google AdWords ad campaign. What we found was fairly typical in the campaigns of those new to paid search.

Restructuring a Pay-Per-Click Campaign

Here’s a example of how the campaign was structured. We changed the name of the company to Acme to protect our client’s anonymity and well, because the Three Stooges had a lasting effect on all of us.

He had  a pretty good list of keywords and phrases (below is a partial list).   A search on any of these terms would return an ad for his business. The operative phrase is “an ad”—he only had one ad to support all these keywords.   So regardless of what people were searching for, they saw the same ad.