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The 36 Rules of Social Media

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#33. Your Fans OWN your brand

#33. Your Fans OWN your brand

Here is a compilation of the 36 Rules of Social Media from key social media gurus and marketers from all industries. It was put together by Fast Company and it illustrates some of the best practices to going about your social media strategy and execution. Even though some of these are not meant to be written in stone and you can break a few, we hope you find them as interesting as we did.

The 36 Rules of Social Media

    1. If all you do is respond to complaints, that’s all people will send you.
    2. Stop and Ask: Would and actual person talk that way?
    3. Everyone says they don’t want to be marketed to. Really, they just don’t want to be talked down to.
    4. The consumer is out for himself. Not for you.
Have a Social Media Crisis Plan

Have a Social Media Crisis Plan

    1. As monetization attempts to go up, consumer experience goes down.
    2. Don’t try to be clever. BE clever.
    3. Social is 24/7, not a one time stunt. (And it really IS 24/7)
    4. Always WRITE BACK. (This one is a must – but there are exceptions: See Applebee’s social media blunder)
    5. Have an ROI. Have an ROI. Have an ROI.
    6. People would rather talk to “Comcast Melissa” than “Comcast.” (So true!!! Had the pleasure of dealing with Comcast Melissa myself!! and she’s fantastic!))
    7. Solve problems for people who talk about you, even if they don’t address you. (Listen to the conversation and engage)
    8. Not everything will work and that’s fine.
    9. Embrace negative content about your brand.
    10. EVERYONE’S an influencer.
    11. If fans distribute your content without your permission, OFFER TO HELP. (Love this one!)
    12. It’s okay to drive people to your site instead of FACEBOOK’s.
    13. Update your page, or delete it.
    14. Don’t make people do x, y and z. Stick with X.
    15. Last year: Pump out content. This year: Optimize content. (May I add, or die.)
Everyone says they don’t want to be marketed to. Really, they just don’t want to be talked down to.

Everyone says they don’t want to be marketed to. Really, they just don’t want to be talked down to.

  1. Become BFFs with your Facebook Reps.
  2. Social Media doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Make traditional media and social media work together. (Please, integrate strategies!)
  3. Desktop is conquered territory. Mobile is the battlefield. (Don’t forget tablets!)
  4. If you don’t see financial results. You wasted your money. (Unless you want results overnight, then you need to check with a shrink as you may be delusional. I have never seen financial results of a marketing strategy happen overnight, unless it’s some kind of scheme.)
  5. People fight for their privacy.
  6. The only way to scale word of mouth: Paid Advertising.
  7. Have a crisis plan. (Please, do!!!)
  8. Don’t use ads to prop up boring content. Use ads to accelerate successful content.
  9. Forget individuals. You’re creating content that encourages groups to form.
  10. People don’t want to shop where they socialize.
  11. Contests and sweepstakes are fine, if you want to encourage short relationships.
  12. People care what you had for breakfast- if you are a food brand.
  13. Pinterest WORKS.
  14. Your fans OWN your brand.
  15. If you’re bored by social media, it’s because you’re trying to get more value than you create.
  16. Think past vanity metrics like followers.
  17. It’s an organism not a process.

Maybe it bears repeating: Pinterest WORKS 😉

as i always say in 3 months this will be peanuts

as i always say in 3 months this will be peanuts

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Digital Marketing Trends You Need To Know About – updated

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Digital Marketing Trends: Online Display Advertising

The challenge for a small business is the same challenge facing any business: How do you get enough people to pay attention to your ads while they are busy uploading photos or conversing with friends?

The challenge for a small business is the same challenge facing any business: How do you get enough people to pay attention to your ads while they are busy uploading photos or conversing with friends?

Banner ads may sound like an antiquated way to get noticed, but actually display advertising is becoming much more interesting due to two important trends.

One such trend is better local ad targeting.

Several companies, such as Local.com, LinkedIn and Facebook, have announced that they’re getting into the local targeting game by offering geography-based advertising along with the standard demographic or keyword targeting you’d expect. Local targeting is already prevalent in search engine marketing and it’s good to know that display ads are heading in the same direction.
The other noticeable trend to get excited about is the movement toward ad pricing based on cost-per-action rather than cost-per-click.

Paying for ads based on CPA means that you don’t pay the publisher until you get the action you want from the ad. For example, if you want your online display ad to drive someone to an online store to buy the advertised product, you won’t have to pay until someone actually clicks the ad and completes the purchase. Several companies have announced an emphasis on CPA tracking and billing.

Digital Marketing Trends: Online Retail Promotions

Selling physical goods has long been about driving traffic to your e-commerce store so prospective customers can see and buy your products. That trend seems destined for a giant turn in the opposite direction, because it won’t be long before smaller retailers have the ability to sell more of their products on other highly targeted consumer websites.

One such website is Milo.com, where the CEO announced the company’s intention to enable anyone to search real-time availability and local product information on every product, on every shelf, in every local business in America.

Another outstanding innovation for online retail comes from Pixazza. Pixazza is changing the way consumers shop by allowing people to browse and buy products that appear in any photos.

For example, let’s say you’re reading an article in an online entertainment magazine and you see a photo of Jennifer Lopez wearing earrings that are to-die-for. Getting yourself a similar pair is easier than ever; as you hover over the photo Pixazza recommends earrings at suggested prices far below what Jennifer Lopez probably paid for hers.

You can also use this type of technology on video email campaigns,  it increases your CTR (Click-through rate) over 100%!!

Digital Marketing Trends: Social Media Advertising

Social media is arguably the most innovative internet tool to emerge since, well, the internet. There are definitely good reasons to advertise on social media sites (this includes your own fan pages and networks). The challenge for a small business is the same challenge facing any business: How do you get enough people to pay attention to your ads while they are busy uploading photos or conversing with friends?

There are a number of companies working to make social media advertising more engaging and even fun, and it won’t be long before there are a plethora of choices for small budgets.

There are interesting video advertising products with built-in games and quizzes to get people to pay attention and remember the content in the videos, and others offer access to an integrated suite of social media applications designed to attract attention and engagement in exchange for a subscription of just a small fee per month.

Digital Marketing Trends: Mobile Marketing

Advertising and messaging to mobile phones is definitely a hot topic among marketers.

In the past, most mobile marketing tools focused on only one aspect of mobile marketing, such as text-messaging, application development or mobile websites. Those tools are now converging as integrated solutions.

One such company, 2ergo, recently announced plans to offer a comprehensive suite of marketing solutions that include SMS, MMS, e-mail and mobile websites. Be on the lookout for companies offering comprehensive mobile solutions priced for small businesses in the not-too-distant future.

Make sure at least a portion of your website is designed to display and function properly on mobile devices — especially the pages that contain contact information for your business.

If you have a location-based business, start making your communications more mobile friendly so people can respond to your offers and information while they are on-the-go.

Sending text-messages and e-mails with mobile coupons and snack-sized bites of product information are great places to start. Also, social media users are more likely to become mobile savvy than the average internet user, so make sure you have a presence on the most common social sites.

augmented reality simply explained

augmented reality simply explained

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