How my employer optimizes Social Media

Banks reputations have been hit hard by scandal and poor lending habits over the past two years. Maintaining and building a positive reputation in the public eye can be a challenge when the media continues to report abuse in the banking system. Social Media can assist in building positive reputation if the correct tools are used and most importantly the tools are maintained. I did some research on how my employer uses social media and found some astonishing results.
First of all, the bank I work for has a Twitter account but only 49 followers and following 0 people. Clearly, they are not optimizing this area of social media. Dan Zarrella (2010) states, "Twitter is all about two-way conversations; engage with people, don't just broadcast" (pg. 52). For a large and well known bank, I found it disheartening that they are not using Twitter to their full advantage. Dan also states, "It's not a bad idea for those on corporate accounts to follow everyone who follows you; to do otherwise may make your brand appear aloof"(pg.39). I completely agree with Dan and it would benefit my company to follow their followers to see what trending topics are of interest and what is being said about them and their industry.
My organization also has a Facebook page with 3,022 fans but they have no wall posts or any other attention grabbing information. Their Facebook page was void of any useful topics and I was not persuaded to become a fan.
I had a hard time locating a blog for my company. What I did find interesting was that our CEO put together a panel of twenty somethings to work with his direct reports to provide feedback on how to better run the company (in terms of optimizing social media: Facebook & Twitter). He stated in the April 8th addition of Northwestern Financial Review, "The company is run by a bunch of 50 somethings and it takes many years to get to the distinction, yet we are the wrong people to decide what the next generation is going to want. So I don't tweet, I don't use Facebook, but I do have people who do those things and who have a voice as loud and clear as anyone who reports directly to me". My CEO had good intentions in developing the panel but they have failed in executing the tools. My advice to my organization would to manage their tools because poorly run social media outlets can impact an organization just as much as well ran tools.

What will the future hold?

What will the future of outbound marketing be? The old marketing techniques involved traveling to tradeshows and spending boat loads of cash on advertisements. Will the new marketing methods overtake tradeshows and print advertisements in the near future? According to eMarketer's June 16th article, "As marketers look to engage their audience with relevant, trustworthy messages, that means smaller shares of marketing budget going to traditional forms of advertisements". Media spending will increase to over 20% in 2014 or about 11 million within the next four years, which could mean that tradeshows will be taken over my webinars and print ads will be replace by web advertisements. Personally, I've seen travel budgets in my organization limited and more online communication taking place. There really is no doubt in my mind that outbound marketing techniques will be taken over by SEO, blogs and PPC because of the customization of the target audience and value it brings to the organization.

Practice makes perfect!

My brother has been talking about starting his own painting business for the last six months and up until recently I haven't asked him about the details. He is a huge MN T-Wolves fan and with his die-hard basketball loving heart, did not missed a game all season (season ticket holder). I can guess what some of you are thinking....who would want season tickets to the T-Wolves! My brother loves b-ball and because of his love for them, has formed friendships with the players and just about everyone at the Target Center. Fellow season ticket holders, bodyguards, sales people, and concession workers are a few of the people that know him by name. My brother has been in the painting business for 6 years and has is continually laid him off. He is a hard and honest worker who is ready to start working for himself!

Here is where I come in! I asked my brother, "how do you plan on marketing yourself?" He didn't really have an answer. So I then ask, "do you plan on having a website?" He said, "I'm not sure." I couldn't hold my excitement and I start explaining how amazing Google is and SEO techniques and told him we need to develope a website and use Michael H. Fleischner's techniques.

I briefly told him about the importance of keywords and page ranking but since our last assignment was to read off page Optimization; I spoke more to that. The importance of link requests, article marketing and blogging ideas came flying out of my mouth. According to Fleischner (2008), "Off-page optimization is the most important SEO strategy for those seeking #1 placement on Google" (pg.52). My brother of course was overwhelmed but very excited and we decided to get together to talk more about the website next week. He did mention a company called servicemagic, which is a online service that contractors can pay to be a part of and helps connect clients with pre-screened contractors. I believe this is an expensive company to belong to and I will need to do more research to determine how competitive they will be with my brothers company. Fleischner did mention that Google has begun to penalize "paid Link".

So you may be asking,"How does my brother's love of basketball play into starting his new business". By golly, he already has some interested "wealthy" clients he knows from the Target Center! If I help him establish a professional well managed website combined with my SEO knowledge and his contacts, hopefully I can assist him be a successful business owner. Wish me luck!!

I missed my favorite TV show! No problem, off to the internet I go!

Working and going to school full time has definitely impacted my much loved television viewership...that is until I figured out I can watch that same episodes online a few days after they air. Networks are loading their full length programs onto their website for viewing which fits into my busy schedule. There is also Hulu, which is another online source people can stream long-form video. What I like about this available technology is I can watch the programs when and where I want and zip through the commercials. An eMarketer June 14th article reads "eMarketer estimates that 33% of online adults in the US, or 58.9 million people, will watch full-length television shows online this year on a monthly basis. Among adults who already watch video regularly online, the rate is even higher, at 50%" (Jenks, 2010). What impact will this trend have on television programming and how will it impact the viewers. Will we have to buy subscription online to watch our shows? I enjoy the free service (other than the cost of my broadband) and the flexibility of the programming. Currently, we can view our programs online for free but based on the trend of online viewership, advertisers and networks are taking noticing and hashing out compensation that has yet to impact the viewers.

Six Fundamentals to Business Blogging

HubSpot's June 14th blog posting focused on creating a successful business blog. The six steps HubSpot's focused on are:
1. Gain visibility as thought leader, each thought on your blog is public demonstration of your thought leadership personal integrity, humor, and professional insights.
2. Engage in customer dialogue, if blogging use a solid blogging engine, readers will have the option to comment on each article.
3. Every blog article is a SEO opportunity, the much discussed "long tail" of search refers to highly specialized, low-traffic search terms that represent a significant amount of total searches.
4.Blogs are link bait, a good blog article is an industry specific insight or thoughtful critique and not a corporate sales pitch.
5. Humanize your brand, blogs are an opportunity give your subscribers a view of people, culture, and vision.
6. Fresh content=Better Website, Google will periodically crawl websites looking for new and updated content. New updates mean more Google crawling, which equals more subscribers.

Many of these steps reflect what Micheal H. Fleischner talked about in his SEO Made Simple. For example, the 4th step, blogs are link bait, refers to increasing your page rank by having links on your blog. Fleischner (2009) states, "Off-page optimization is the most important SEO strategy for those seeking #1 placement on Google"(pg.52). If the blogger can reel the readers in by writing interesting and useful content, they can increase their links thus increase their page rank.
Most people hate spiders crawling on them but when it comes to web content and visibility spiders are welcome with open arms. Fresh content can encourage Google to crawl all over your blog and increase your search results. The six fundamental step to business blogging are basic but relevant and solid tool to follow when starting a business blog.

Store Fronts, Catalogue, Websites..now mobile phones!

Saturday, I was shopping in a retail store and I saw an advertisement to text 55566 to this number and recieve 10% off your purchase instantly. I thought "wow, this store is aware of their target market (young adults who have their cell phone in their hands 24/7) and is adapting to wireless marketing". The June 4th article on eMarketer.com titled Why Retailers Need an In-Store Mobile Strategy, reminded me off my recent in-store experience. Retailers now have a new channel of marketing to focus on, mobile phones! Dave Sikora, founder and CEO of Digby quotes interviewed for article states " Our premise is that retailers have three channels: catalogues, the physical store front, and their website. We believe that mobile phones is not only the the fourth channel, it's the unique channel". Marketing to consumer through their mobile phones is a sign of marketing in the 21st century and being used by small and large retailers.

New apps, such as bar codes, are available for download which allows customer to price check and compare prices on almost every items in a store. Some retailers may view this app as a threat but Sikora stated, "You have to have an in-store mobile strategy that's application based. You have to have a mobile strategy that provides significant values over and above what people can do just by walking into your store and doing a price check". Once again, I see the word "value" and can't help but think back to the beginning of our text book that covered how important value added services are to Internet marketing.

DRIVER'S START YOUR ENGINES

Bumping and rubbing is part of racing and NASCAR has proven themselves to win both on the track and online. NASCAR.com website rating is 98 per Hubspot.com. It is a difficult to critique near perfection but I did find a few areas on their website that could be improved. The website is very busy and crowded, unless you are familiar with the racing culture, the user could be overwhelmed and exit the website before they dig deeper into the content. My first recommendation would be to de-clutter the homepage. The homepage is the user's first impression and they cannot view the entire page without scrolling down.

Sponsors advertisements, surveys, and YouTube links danced in front of my eyes and focusing on one area of the website took dedication. NASCAR.com's homepage is difficult to navigate and the objective is hard to determine. Roberts(2008) states, " there must be a coherent structure to the content of the site, usually one that is hierarchical in nature. This enables visitors to move around the site in a manner that fits each person 's individual need to merely examine summary information or to drill deeper into the site in search of detailed information about a specific topic"(p.256). My second recommendation would be to take away or move the images to appropriate tabs. There are too many active links and small images that are not well represented because they are lost among larger content. NASCAR should restructure the homepage and move these images and links to appropriate pages to better serve their purpose. My third recommendation would be create seamless navigation. Currently, if you click on the shop tab a new web page opens up. This page takes time to load and potentially a loss of viewership. Also, if you want to go back to the homepage, another web page opens up. Opening up all these tabs slows down my computer. NASCAR.com has a lot to offer but I feel their valued added services are lost by cramming all the content onto the homepage.