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Social media’s present and future influence on marketers and media, an OMMA Social keynote presentation

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Let’s start with a couple social media stats

  • Twitter has more than 175 million user accounts
  • Facebook has about 650 million users.
  • And LinkedIn has over 100 million professionals signed up.

Judging from the statistics of only three of the many social media venues, I think we can make the safe assumption that social media use is BIG. More staggering social media statistics

So, is social media impacting the way marketing and media outlets work?  If it is, how should marketers and agencies react to this development?  Or, is social media an over-hyped trend that will soon be outdated?

OMMA Social keynote, Antony Young, CEO of Optimedia International US and author of the book Brand Media Strategy, shares his perspectives on social media during his presentation, “Is social media in a bubble?”

Social media success tips

  • “Social matters to brands because of advocacy.”
  • If you’re not getting the results from social media, it’s probably the way you’re implementing it
    • A ‘Liked’ ad is 300% more likely to solicit a buy.
  • Social media is starting to make us think about reaching the heavy influencers instead of the heavy users.
  • There is no real text book on social. You need to immerse yourself; part of it is to have curiosity.
  • Social is not just digital … And perhaps even becoming less digital in certain ways?

Influencers

  • Advocates
  • Detractors
    • Detractors talk about your brand 4x more than anyone

Branding

  • Reputation management is what it’s all about
  • Perfect for social space
  • Add the following to all idea briefs “what can we say about the brand that will drive talkability”

Earned media ingredients

  • Anti-ads, unpaid mentions, bloggers
    • Needs to be useful, real, true

Social media is a powerful force for marketers and agencies, do not write it off as a trend.

Bill Gates once said, “we always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next 10.”  Do not underestimate social media: Its use is growing; it is a wise move for marketers and agencies to study its impact to leverage its use for their business incentives.  Be smart and incorporate social media into your campaign.

View slides from the presentation here

Thanks for sharing your insights @antonyyoung, @MelCarson, @AmandaDeVito, @MikeDeichmiller, @JasonHeller, @URInews, @gavinthomas11

Direct mail… What is that again? Highlights from NEDMA 2011

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Snail mail, the United States Postal Service, stamps: The “old-fashioned” way of communicating is still around!

If you have forgotten about it, here are some pointers of how to communicate when using direct mail from the NEDMA 2011 conference.  Use these in your direct marketing practices.

People are more motivated by the avoidance of pain.

  • Consider using fear in direct marketing

To persuade people

  • Choose an easy-to-read font
  • Consider a neatly-written post-it note
  • “Give people a reason to believe.”
    • People are natural skeptics, so putting the reason into context for customers
  • The word “because” is used as a compliance trigger.
    • People assume the reason is going to be a good one.

Mailboxes aren’t around just for kids t0 smash; snail mail is still a great way to send messages.  Use these tips in your direct mail marketing practices to obtain the best  results.

“Clout” book review by Newport Interactive Marketers

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Turn off the computer and sit back with a great read: Clout: The Art and Science of Influential Web Content by Colleen Jones is a practical handbook for anyone that wants to learn more about creating digital content.

Watch Newport Interactive Marketers Suzanne McDonald, chief content strategist of Designated Editor, and Katherine Gagliano, e-mail and digital marketing consultant at Amplify Marketing Group, as they give their professional opinions of the book and decide if it is worth your time to check it out.

“If you’re only going to read one book, this is a good one” — Suzanne McDonald


Why read ‘Clout’ and care about ‘Influential Web Content’?

  • Content 101: A practical guide that covers basic principles of content creation for your audience
  • Great “how-to” on creating meaningful content on the web
  • Relevant in our constantly evolving technological times
  • Quick read, naturally, since it’s written by a content specialist
  • The author directs you to the topics that are relevant to you

What does the book cover?

  • Framework
  • Oratory styles
  • Crowdsourcing

Who should read this?

  • Professional content creators who have access to strong support system
  • Professionals who are looking to elevate their content game online
  • Not so great for one-person operation
  • Everybody can take some concepts from this book
  • Relevant to all skill sets

Most enlightening aspects to Suzanne and Katherine

  • Very current!
  • Does not try to cover too many topics
  • Author recommends other relevant reads such as branding

If you want a quick and practical read on the best ways to create content for your web strategy, read Clout. With it’s current relevance and practical guidelines, it is well worth your time to check out.

Join Newport Interactive Marketers at their monthly gathering for more information on online marketing strategies, great networking, and other book recommendations.

Optimize your online communication by timing emails, blogs, social media

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By Alexandra Smith

Hubspot‘s social media marketing scientist Dan Zarrella takes a look at timing in social media, email, and blogs.

Zarrella offers some important advice on timing your online communications, an element seldom analyzed. He uses a scientific approach, which he likens to the study of medicine, to compile data and create visual representations of the best time to accomplish your online objectives.

Picture social media as a cocktail party: Why should I want to listen to you? What do you have to offer? He also explains the concept of contra-competitive timing — that is, putting out content when other people aren’t, in order to be noticed.

Zarrella explains the best times to tweet, update your Facebook status, post blogs, get click-throughs on links, get comments on posts, and send email blasts. He offers specific advice according to each platform and your objective.

Social media timing

Twitter

  • Retweets: If you want retweets, post your tweets late in the day (2-5pm) and late in the week.
  • Click-throughs: Saturdays and Sundays are best for click-throughs from Twitter. Monday and Thursday are the worst. Click-throughs do not decline at night.
  • Do not be afraid to tweet too much. People who tweet 22 times a day have the most followers.
  • Tweet the same thing without posting the same tweet – highlight a part of your previous tweet.

Tips

  • bit.ly links: You can paste someone’s bitly link into your browser and put a “+” sign after it to see how many click-throughs they got on the bitly link. Compare how many followers they have to determine their click-through rate ratio.
  • Check out tweetwhen.com. Enter your Twitter username and find out when your most retweetable time and day is!

Facebook

  • Pages with updates posted every other day have the most likes.
  • Be more careful about how often you put post on Facebook; it’s easier to flood someone’s news feed.
  • If you want shares on Facebook, Saturday is the best, Sunday is good.
  • Thursday is the worst day for sharing. (Facebook sharing is probably less during the week because many workplaces block it).

Email

  • Most people do not have separate work and personal email accounts. This blurs the line between B2B and B2C.
  • Most emails are read in the morning. The best time of day to send emails is 4-7 a.m. Nighttime is the worst time for email reading. Try sending emails very early!
  • Email bounces are highest on the weekend, and more occur early in the morning.
  • People are most likely to submit abuse or spam reports on Saturdays and Sundays. (They have more time to read emails on the weekend, and thus have more time to report spam).
  • Click-through rates are higher on the weekend. People get fewer messages on the weekend, so your email is likely to get more opens and more click-throughs. The downside about weekends is that your bounce rate will be higher, and you may have more spam reports.
  • If you’re sending frequent emails and want click-throughs on links, you are most likely to get click-throughs if you send one email a month. However, increasing the frequency of your emails will have little effect on the click-through rate.
  • Unsubscribe rates are also highest when you email once a month. However increasing your email sends will have little effect on unsubscribe rates.
  • New email recipients will click through most. They are the most interested and have the most brand recognition.
  • Unsubscribe rates are the highest after the first one or two emails you send to new recipients. After this point, the effect of recency is insignificant.

All in all, send more emails, and experiment with sending on the weekend!

Blogging

  • Most blog followers read in the morning. There is little decline in reading throughout the day, however. Men are more likely to read blogs at night than women.
  • The most popular blog reading hour is 10-11 a.m. Blog readership DECREASES on the weekend.
  • Surprisingly, most comments on blogs occur on Saturday, and also on Sunday. People who do read blogs on the weekend have more time to comment.
  • If you want click-throughs in your blog, 6-7 a.m. is the best time. The rest of the day and week is irrelevant for click-throughs. Blog early in the morning if you want click-throughs!
  • Blogs published more than once each day have more views than click-throughs. The more often you blog, the more click-throughs and comments you’ll get.

All in all, blog more!

Check out Dan Zarrella’s timing webinar. Follow him on Twitter.

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