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Social media generates brand and competitive insights

February 22, 2012 Leave a Comment

Do you know what social competitive intelligence is?

By taking a look at the custom shoe industry, it is becoming more and more clear to marketers across industries that a true consumer is one who believes that the things they buy contribute to their quality of life. For dedicated and seasoned shoe aficionados, there is often no ceiling for what he/she will pay for a quality brand.

During a Direct Marketing News webcast, Lindsey Mark of Compete Client Relations spoke about integrating competitive intelligence into a strategic planning process as a part of marketing strategy; the custom shoe industry is no exception.

Mark uses the custom shoe industry as a framework for analyzing industry leaders and provides recommendations for New Balance shoes. Mark has studied the presence of custom shoe retailers on social media networks, including Slideshare, YouTube, Tumblr, Flickr, and LinkedIn. Through these sites, readers can scour through the competitors’ YouTube channel to see who their subscribers are and how subscribers are engaged. So far, Compete Client Relations has observed a few particular platforms’ strengths in the custom shoe industry.

Social media platforms use by shoe retailers

LinkedIn is used to sift through profiles of the competition’s employees
Flickr’s user generated content: Converse advocates tell creative stories of how they are living with the brand
Tumblr, which also benefits the shoe industry with user generated content, has been noted for providing social insights into who the top contributors are

Traditional ways of measuring business intelligence – such as sales volumes, subscribers, and annual reports – involve static information that is hard to dissect. Using social media to learn what the competition is doing on their network is an extremely powerful tool for marketers.

There’s no shortage of competitive creativity in the industry, either. MiAdidas, whose name shows its unique approach to brand awareness, benefits mainly from paid search results. But YouTube celebrates videos of customers receiving and opening their shoe boxes excitedly.

Analyzing consumer behavior associated with particular brands is an integral part of a successful marketing strategy. From shoes to travel to automotive, Kantar Media Compete delivers digital intelligence based on consumers’ online behavior.

Follow Lindsey Mark on Twitter @linji.

Filed Under: Branding, Marketing, Social Media Tagged With: advice, audience, best practices, blogging, Branding, Brands, business intelligence, Compete, competitive analysis, consumer behavior, Converse, Designated Editor Blog, Direct Marketing News, DMNews, Engagement, Flickr, insights, Lindsey Mark, LinkedIn, MiAdidas, New Balance, Nike, Search Marketing, SEO, SlideShare, Social media, strategies, strategy, tips tactics, Tumblr, YouTube

Leveraging LinkedIn: Free tips to prospect and engage

January 25, 2012 Leave a Comment

Leveraging linked in newport county chamber of commerce talk by suzanne mcdonald

View more presentations from Designated Editor.

Leveraging LinkedIn presented to the Newport County Chamber of Commerce

This presentation was coupled with live demos and lots of Q&A from the packed room at the Newport County Chamber of Commerce. LinkedIn demo included:

How to optimize your profile

Make sure your photo shows you professionally and recognizably
Be sure it’s recent

Use plug-ins to enhance your profile

TripIt
SlideShare
Blog Link
Reading List

Engage via Groups

Share articles of interest
Connect to people in your Groups who you find interesting
If you’d like to connect with someone you don’t know, try engaging via Groups

LinkedIn posting tips

Post at least once per week.

One way to stay active on LinkedIn is to post articles you’ve read and commented on to LinkedIn (can also select to share with Twitter) and share with Groups and Individuals. Please note: LinkedIn is not like Twitter, and people are more likely to become over-saturated with your posts if you’re contributing multiple times per day.

Thanks to the Newport County Chamber of Commerce for hosting and don’t miss a Facebook Seminar at the Chamber on Feb. 9, 2012.

Filed Under: Designated Editor's perspective, LinkedIn Tagged With: Blog Link, Designated Editor, Engagement, Interactive, LinkedIn, LinkedIn Answers, LinkedIn demo, LinkedIn Events, LinkedIn Groups, LinkedIn posting tips, Newport County Chamber of Commerce, Newport RI, optimize profile, Reading List, Rhode Island, SlideShare, Social media, Suzanne McDonald, TripIt

New media tips to land your first customer presented by Suzanne McDonald

January 19, 2012 Leave a Comment

Landing your first customer with new media presented by suzanne mc donald, designated editor

View more presentations from Designated Editor.

How to use new media to land your first customer, a Designated Editor presentation at Boston ENET: The IEEE Entrepreneurs’ Network

Landing your first few customers, as Boston ENET: The IEEE Entrepreneurs’ Network, accurately articulates “is often one of the biggest hurdles startups face.”

Check out the slides for insights on how to “leverage digital media and traditional marketing techniques to land those first customers–without breaking the bank. Suzanne will explore customer acquisition with an emphasis on using the marketing tools of the 21st century.”

Boston ENET events gather many previously successful entrepreneurs who are venturing on new projects, as well as some freshly minted entrepreneurs. A highly engaged crowd with fantastic questions, and a fantastic venue at SwissNex Boston, along with gracious hosts: the SwissNex Boston team and Christina Inge of Boston ENET. Don’t miss future ENET events.

Christina Inge

Tweet highlight from Christina Inge of Boston ENET

“The hard part when you’re beginning is you’re in an echo chamber-talking, but not yet hearing from customer #enet”

Let’s continue the conversation

What did I miss?
How did you get your first customer?

Filed Under: Boston, Designated Editor's perspective Tagged With: acute pain point, audience, best practices, blog, blogger relations, blogs, Boston, boston entrepreneurs network, brand loyalists, Brands, content strategist, credibility, Designated Editor, evangalists, F-commerce, Facebook, first customer, google analytics, identify audiences, Interactive, keywords, landing page optimization, LinkedIn, Low-cost tools, market research, media relations, new media, PR, public relations, refine audience, Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, shape your website and social media outreach, social, Social media, social media outreach, tips, Twitter, UGC, user generated content, user-generated content, using new media to land your first customer: low-c, website messaging, YouTube

Book review: ‘Social Media Playbook for Business’

January 5, 2012 Leave a Comment

Tom Funk’s Social Media Playbook for Business

Tom Funk’s “Social Media Playbook for Business: Reaching Your Online Community with Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and More” covers various aspects of social media, from strategy to platforms, plus “next level,” successes, fails, and the future of social media.

Funk’s Strategy chapter covers everything from:

Listening
Ownership
Legal
Establishing mission
Publishing a plan
Goals
Tracking
ROI
Is my company right for Social Media?

Managers who are not directly involved with day-to-day social media may find Funk’s explanations most helpful. He covers:

Social media platforms
Competitive analysis
Monitoring blogs and social platforms

Unfortunately Funk is not as in-depth as some other books I’ve reviewed when discussing what to expect when hiring consultants.

Funk does discuss the importance of writing a social media business plan, however. He explains formulating a social media plan like a business plan, translating how social media can benefit businesses in a language more oriented to MBAs than marketing/communications specialists.

A social media business plan, like a business plan would include:

Competitive analysis
Operations plan
Goals
Objectives
ROI

Funk does a great job in explaining earned vs paid media. Also, the Future chapter digs into:

Social shopping
Neuro-linguistic programming
How social media is likely to integrate with our everyday expectations
How social becomes the new “normal”

Published February 2011, Tom Funk’s Social Media Playbook for Business will assist business owners and managers with creating a social media plan for businesses to evolve and leverage Social Media. The Social Media Playbook is available on Amazon.com and or other booksellers.

The Social Media Playbook for Business: Reaching Your Online Community with Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and More

By: Tom Funk
Published: Feb. 2, 2011
Best for: Larger businesses, higher-level managers who may not be handling day-to-day social media firsthand.

Filed Under: Designated Editor's perspective, Social Media, Social Media Book Reviews Tagged With: blog, blogging, blogs, book review, Brands, Brief review, business, campaign, Chief Content Strategist, company, Content, Designated Editor, Engagement, Facebook, goals, Integrated Strategy, Interactive, LinkedIn, managers, media, objectives, operation, Owners, plan, platform, Playbook, Professor, programming, ROI, Share, social, Social Media Business, social media strategies, strategy, Suzanne McDonald, targeting, tips, Tom Funk, tools, tracking, Twitter, University of Rhode Island, YouTube

Interns aka digital natives at the Social Media Social

December 22, 2011 Leave a Comment

Interns aka digital natives meet pros at the Social Media Social

By Jaclyn Liva
University of Rhode Island

Social Media is being used in almost everyone’s lives constantly throughout the day. The URI Student-led Public Relations Society recently hosted the first-ever Social Media Social. Several students that belong to the University’s Harrington School of Communication were in attendance, along with many Newport Interactive Marketers members and small businesses looking for interns.

University of Rhode Island Social Media professor Suzanne McDonald, founder of NIM, kicked off the event with an informative speech on how the need for digital natives is increasing. It was a great because the students there are all familiar in social media, aka digital natives. Her presentation is available on SlideShare and focuses on “Crossing the Digital Divide” between digital natives (student-interns) and busy professionals.

The Social was an opportunity for students to socialize with business owners and other professionals who are seeking help with social media for their businesses. Suzanne also talked about how important a LinkedIn profile is to have.

Shawn Simmons, Director Public Relations at StyleWeek Providence, @StyleWeekPR was also a keynote speaker at the social. He discussed the importance of branding yourself and offered tips on how to discover your brand. Shawn advised everyone to keep in mind that what other people say about your brand is much more important than what you design your brand to be.

During the event, there was a live Twitter stream onstage. People were tweeting and retweeting questions for the social media experts panel. And #URI_PRS was trending. One student tweeted: “How important are recommendations from co-workers and bosses on LinkedIn?” The question was answered almost instantly by one of the panelists: crucially important.

It was nice to see even the keynote speakers tweet from the audience. It made the atmosphere of the Social feel much more open.

The Social Media Social panel featured

These pros deftly handled numerous questions and stressed the fact that everything that is put on the Internet will forever live in cyberspace.

The Social Media Social came to an end with a networking session. This gave everyone in attendance the opportunity to meet, mingle, and explore internship opportunities over free ice cream!

Filed Under: Newport Interactive Marketers, Social Media Tagged With: audience, best practices, blog, blogging, blogs, Brand, Branding, Brian Hodge, cyber space, Designated Editor, digital native, discussion, Dunkin Brands, Facebook, Harrington School of Communication, Interactive, Interns, Kevin Vine, keywords, LinkedIn, live stream, Marketing, media, mingle, network, Newport, Newport Interactive Marketers, NIM, panelist, Providence, Public Relations society, RI, Shawn Simmons, small buisness, social, Social media, strategy, Styleweek, Suzanne McDonald, targeting, tips, tools, Twitter, Uiversity of Rhode Island, URI, YouTube