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Pick Monday sessions at South by Southwest Interactive 2010

sue@DesignatedEditor.com (Suzanne of Designated Editor) — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 22:16:00 GMT

Which SXSWi sessions should I blog about?

Energy level is still high; I saw a Tweet that said something along the lines of "gorging on awesomeness." Like Sunday's sessions, there's just so much to choose from, I thought I'd ask which sessions you'd like to hear about.

Here are the options, please comment & scroll down for 5 p.m. (CST) sessions if you're seeing this late:

Monday, March 15th

Thanks to Michelle for voting on Sunday's SXSW session selections

sue@DesignatedEditor.com (Suzanne of Designated Editor) — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 21:40:00 GMT

Thanks to @SassyMichelle for voting on my SXSW session selections. Here's a brief update, more thorough posts TK (to come, little newspaper speak there) later this week. Not enough time to filter and digest while there's so much great stuff going on.

Imagineering the Fully Digitized and Connected Future: intriguing, think LOTS of screens and attention overload, mitigated privacy with cultural acceptance of that. #digitizedconnected

Blah Blah Blah: Why Words Won't Work by Dan Roam #WhyWordsWon’tWork: a preview of his new book, interesting approach to problem-solving embodied in the fox and the hummingbird

Winner of the day so far Persuasive Design: Encouraging Your Users To Do What You Want Them To! #persuasivedesign:highly actionable information, think smells in stores, all theseleading tactics and techniques. How it happens to me: why did I comeinto the Green Grocer for 2 things and walk out with a literal armload!

More general info on SXSW

Should I put up another poll for Tuesday, sorry for the short notice, been busy!!

Which SXSWi sessions should I blog about?

sue@DesignatedEditor.com (Suzanne of Designated Editor) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 19:45:00 GMT

Super-excited to head to Austin tomorrow for South by Southwest Interactive.

There's just so much to choose from, I thought I'd ask which sessions you'd like to hear about.

Sunday, March 14th

Concurrent sessions

Exploiting Chaos -- How to Spark Innovation During Times of Change
OR
Imagineering the Fully Digitized and Connected Future

More concurrent sessions

Blah Blah Blah: Why Words Won't Work
OR
Can Wikipedia Survive Popular Success and Community Decline?
OR
Extending Your Brand? There's an App for That
OR

How Social Media Can Destroy Your Business Model
OR
Leave Your Job, Start An Agency

Even more concurrent sessions

Persuasive Design: Encouraging Your Users To Do What You Want Them To!
OR

The 10-Minute Transmedia Experience
OR

Writing Web Content For A Living

See what I mean? And that's just the start! More general info on SXSW

Please comment and thanks for the help!

We have to ask: Who are these people and how can we make it easy to buy? Rishad Tobaccowala: “Data Doesn’t Bleed” Keynote at OMMA Behavioral

sue@DesignatedEditor.com (Suzanne of Designated Editor) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 14:09:00 GMT

Agencies, consultants, B2Bs need to listen to clients: They really want to know what their customers want

State of the market

Too much plumbing not enough poetry
Too much keeping an eye on money sources: VCs are not the answer
Not possible to understand a person based on 6 pieces of data, mostly beyond behavioral
We need to think much broader about people, need to be thinking both off and online
It’s not about pure simplicity

Marketers' perceptions

33% say behavioral is important
50% say paid search
30% say SEO

Don’t underestimate how overworked agencies are or how smart they have become

Keep in mind what are they looking for

Continuous improvement
Service (answer the phone)
Collaboration

Recommendations for online agencies and marketers

Trust is lacking – across all industries – trust expedites speed
If you’re doing a powerpoint, you’ve already lost, you’re defending
Take clients out for a drink and treat them like people
There should be a strong link between behavioral and creative agencies.

“Rishad Tobaccowala @rishadt serves as a key component of the VivaKi executive management board (Digitas, Razorfish), where he oversees innovation and reinvention efforts … Prior to his current role, Tobaccowala was CEO of Denuo – a Publicis Groupe company that invents, inspires and instigates new forms of creativity to help brands meet challenges of modern marketplaces.

OMMA Behavioral: Winning the Data Games of 2010
“Data, data everywhere. But which attributes and behaviors really match your marketing goals? In 2009, new technologies and layers of user data flooded the marketplace -- from social affinities to purchase patterns, demand-side agency platforms to optimization platforms for both buy side and sell sides. But in 2010, marketers need to roll up their sleeves and make these tools work more efficiently for their clients. It is not just about vetting the vendors and running tests anymore. Real money is coming online to be allocated in ways that prove effectiveness. Execution is key, and behavioral targeting is now an integral part of that marketing mix.”

Mobile, Local, Social, Personal: Google's answer to "The Future of Search" straight from Google Senior Agency Relations Manager Lisa Green

sue@DesignatedEditor.com (Suzanne of Designated Editor) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 17:05:00 GMT

The Future of Search - Hosted at Google's Cambridge Office, Presented by Google Senior Agency Relations Manager Lisa Green and SEMPO Boston Working Group

#Sempo_boston

Search is being redefined by mobile, local, social, personal, augmented reality

By a device revolution: Mobile phones

Increasing capabilities and ubiquity
Have almost human capabilities: ears, eyes, know who, what, where, why

Personalization How can we truly personalize?

Augmented reality Fuse digital to actual world

Localization & personalized search

iPhone users using maps 30 percent more than desktop users. No need to ID location.
You know where I am I want sushi

Social circle personalization

New: Augment results with friends' info, say on NZ what did they say/recommend
What do my friends think about type of mobile phone I'm investigating

Omnivorous search box: everything you've searched

Media
Photos, video, not just text. 100 billion images added to web every year
Image recognition
Look by color, size: Google can understand what's in the picture
Will be able to drag image into the search box
Google Goggles: take picture, search conducted from pic. Can take biz cards, add to contact lists
Image swirl: Similar to Wonder Wheel, system understands how images relate to each other

Adding greater depth to search

Play songs from search results
Add more languages, make Google universally accessible, can search and get results in native language

What's new in Search blog posts updated every Friday, Google YouTube brand channel

Q&A

Q. How long until we have conversation w search engines? Have phone talk back to you?

A. Devices need improvement, technology is there on Google's end

Q. Local listings: Google maps?

A. Local extensions released recently, improvements and beta tests within local Mobile, can target by device and carrier: AT&T and iPhone users within geo space

Q. Does Google know searches across devices, if you searched from phone, will results on desktop reflect phone search?

A. Only if logged in, but try to keep separate so results not skewed

Q. Location-based banner advertising?

A. iPhone doesn't allow but android does, up to the carriers, Google working toward those results while protecting privacy

Q. SEM mobile?

A. Device and carrier targeting is latest, for sponsored ads. Can select whether just want full browser phones. More coming in mobile

Other nuggets

Real-time results: are unfiltered, working to refine real-time
Hit all points in the algorithm, and businesses can appear in real-time results
Nexus One forthcoming for Verizon, Google was leaving development to device manufacturers, but now considering it
The way the search engine works fundamentally won't change, but focusing on indexing
Seeing an increase in number of words users putting in the search: Majority of engineers working on search.
Google tries to be sure agencies are armed w info to sell search marketing (not SEO) so they understand how to grow business

Bottom line

Google's focus is always on users and giving them what they want

Previous "Voice of Google" posts

SEMNE event: Google Adwords Best Practices with Malinda Gagnon of Google

Coming up on Feb. 5: "The Future of Search: Google's Perspective"

sue@DesignatedEditor.com (Suzanne of Designated Editor) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:41:00 GMT

SEMPO Boston Working Group presents The Future of Search - Hosted at Google's Cambridge Office
Please allow a few days to sift and post; join the other smart folks who know not to miss it: subscribers are automatically notified!

Directly from event description:

"Many predictionshave been made over the past few years regarding the future of search,and there is one perspective that just cannot be ignored: Google's.

"Join the SEMPOBoston Working Group on the morning of February 5th as Lisa Green,Senior Agency Relations Manager at Google, talks about the future of search.Lisa's presentation will cover data/insights, social, and mobile. Afull event description will be coming soon, but we suggest that youregister now as space will be limited.

"Lisa Green is currently a Senior Agency Relations Manager at Google. Her responsibilities include developing relationships with key agency partners and increasing agency participation with Google. Lisa has been at Google for four years where she has managed several teams and helped launch the Campaigns & Elections Team which works with major political candidates during key election cycles. She is a recipient of Google’s G-Values Award and Americas Impact Award which recognize outstanding performance.

"Prior to working at Google, Lisa spent 2 years at National Journal Group,working with large advertisers that targeted beltway insiders and Members of Congress. She moved to Washington DC from San Francisco where she worked at RedEnvelope. Lisa also spent a year living in Chile where she attended classes at the Universidad de La Serena. Lisa received her Bachelor of Arts in Spanish and History from Middlebury College.She is a member of the Ad Club’s Digital Media Committee and an avid supporter of Prize4Life, an organization dedicated to funding ALS research. She is fluent in Spanish, proficient in French and is an enthusiastic yoga student."

Previous Google post

SEMNE event: Google Adwords Best Practices with Malinda Gagnon of Google

What's Next for E-Commerce? Further growth in SEO, Affiliate Marketing, Mobile, Social Media

sue@DesignatedEditor.com (Suzanne of Designated Editor) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 12:59:00 GMT

MITX event 2/28/10 at Microsoft NERD Center

What Will "E-Commerce 2.0" Look Like in the Next Few Years?

Speaker bios

Jeff Bussgang - General Partner, Flybridge Capital Partners (moderator)
Tom Beecher -President and CEO, Mall Networks
Brian Eberman - CEO, Avenue 100 Media Solutions
Scott Savitz - CEO and Co-Founder, Shoebuy
Niraj Shah - CEO and Co-Founder, CSN Stores

Intro From MITX site"Retailers who leverage the power of online commerce,communities, personalization, and other online strategies ... e-commerce is the one positive story from the2009 holiday season: According to ComScore, online retailing grew 4%(from the beginning of November through December 18) to $24.8 billion,while sales conducted in stores fell flat in comparison to 2008."

E-commerce developments

Scott Savitz

Shoebuy complements not competes against stores: buy at home after shopping, look online then go to store
Have to listen to the customers to see what they want

Brian Eberman New developments include real-time bidding for banner ads. Can select preferences and bid only on profiles that fit the demographic. Not enough data yet, soon hold for now

Scott Important part of the internet is to leverage in multiple platforms, affiliate marketing part of that

Niraj Shah Amazon's competitiveness has raised the bar but also made e-commerce an everyday activity

Scott

Need to focus on value proposition, grow and evolve, keep ear to consumer and keep adding value
Put more money into customer retention than new customer acquisition
Lowest level of marketing since 2002 but still growing
Convinced it's because Shoebuy customers know Shoebuy is listening

Niraj

Re-targeting: After someone visits site, partner with ad networks to show ads to that prior visitor.
Email better ROI

Social Media

Scott

Shoebuy doesn't have a social media "leader" (exec/pro) because it goes against what social media is all about
One of best marketing tools is usability.
When you listen to customers and they know you really care about them, they become advocates.

Niraj CSN continues to experiment and find interesting things to do. Contest: why living room needed a rescue, send photos, description, picked 100 finalists and then put to a vote. Finalists became ambassadors. Fantastic ROI also building who they are as a company, newsworthy, doing something interesting. Local papers did stories about finalists from their towns

Brian

Advertising within social media vs building community: It's about demand-generation vs search, which is really demand satisfaction
Now exploring how to build community

Mobile & shifting rapidly across marketing channels

Brian

Make daily overall marketing decisions, based on prediction tools
Example: iPhone app take photo of barcoded item, do self-checkout, show rcpt on phone when walk out
Opt-in for geo-based offers. Allow geo-location to be exposed

Niraj Apps are just making the carrier richer, still unclear about how it will play out

Scott Amazing what you learn from the customer, read every feedback form. Help you lead the way.

Other e-commerce innovations

Everyone in the company takes customer service calls on a rotation
Everyone can access data, their close rates, etc. Empowering smart people to see how they're doing
When customer svs sends response, offer the email for sr mgt and offer to consumer to contact them directly
Customer svs enthusiastic and supportive, gave more ideas to help stay connected
Have query day where people job-swap: marketing gets to train in database management

Appyling appropriate Social Media strategy, stemming from a LinkedIn discussion

sue@DesignatedEditor.com (Suzanne of Designated Editor) — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:39:00 GMT

Fodder from a discussion on LinkedIn that showcases appropriate application of Social Media

Original post: Physicians vs. Social Media: What's your experience?

Talking with physician clients about adding social media intotheir marketing strategies ... there has been more resistance thanacceptance. Some of the resistance seems to be a lack of knowledgeabout the tools with questions like “What’s Linked-In?” Another issueis perceived value versus the time spent.

I would appreciate hearing experiences of others with professionalclients (business owners) like physicians and attorneys. What are thepros and cons you have encountered with this type of client, what isdeemed success or failure, or are your professional clients open toutilize these tools and if so, why? Thanks for sharing yourexperiences.

Designated Editor's Take

Depending on the physician's specialty and goal,it may be a complete waste of time. What's the underlying motivation asbusiness owners or professionals?

An example that is more likely to yield results:
A doc who's trying to build a practice: Ask satisfied patients to post a review on Yelp.

I know everyone preaches goal-setting and tracking results. For my clients, that equation looks something like this:

How much time/funds do you have to devote to social media/blogging?
Who are you trying to reach?
Where is your targeted audience already congregating?
What outcome are you pursuing?

Social media isn't a magic pill to solve underlying strategy issues,although it can be a tool to help identify stumbling blocks and toproblem solve.

It'd be great to others' perspectives as well!

MarketingSherpa Chart: Why Consumers Friend or Follow Companies

sue@DesignatedEditor.com (Suzanne of Designated Editor) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 14:11:00 GMT

A telling snapshot ....

Why Consumers Friend or Follow Companies
By Sergio Balegno, Senior Analyst

In reporting on this consumer study of social media use by consumers, MarketingSherpa makes reference to a group it's calling "Max Connectors" -- those people with more than 500 social connections. They exemplify the new social consumer, and they’re especially valuable targets for marketing,at least in theory, because they can spread a positive brand or product experience so widely.

The motivations for consumers to track brands and companies through social media are generally predictable.However, there are exceptional aspects. Unlike our motivations for email or catalogs, getting a first or early look at features and products is at least as strong a motivation as beneficial pricing(that’s especially true of Max Connectors).

Another unique driver of social connectedness with companies is to "get to know" the company. Although other aspects of the Internet have already opened this arena up to scrutiny, social media accelerated the ability of individual consumers to monitor, communicate and comment on companies as citizens.

What does 2010 hold? Timeless tips for Search Marketing, SEO, and Social Media

sue@DesignatedEditor.com (Suzanne of Designated Editor) — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:05:00 GMT

We've come along way here at Designated Editor! From fumbling around for a focus to honing in on search marketing and social media.

Along the way, I've posted what I've gathered and learned in this crash course on remaining relevant to my clients and prospects.

Gentle readers, I'm sure, can see where the puzzle pieces have dropped into place. Ideally, the puzzle that readers unbox has a thousand or so fewer pieces. Or perhaps the frame is complete, and it's a matter of you customizing the image to suit your goals.

Liberally borrowing from the late Senator Ted Kennedy's autobiography "True Compass," the metaphor also relates to Search Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, and Social Media.

True North When Navigating Search Marketing and Social Media

Providing people with the information they're seeking or searching for.
Giving your clients and prospects the bearings with which to engage with you.
If they're not interested, you've saved yourself time.

Timeless Search Marketing and Social Media Tips

Be up-front about who you are and what you do.
Use the words that searchers are using.
Be honest. No one likes being mislead.
Be yourself. People do business with people, not institutions.
Provide useful information in a concise manner.
Consider how you like to be treated and pay it forward.
If you're not sure, ask for advice.
Be considerate of people's time: Don't make them wade through too much text.

These tips will outlast any link-building, SEO, or other short-term techniques.

Feel free to disagree; your comments and insights are most welcome!

Wishing you a wonderful 2010, however you define it,
Suzanne

Jonathan Kranz's blogging and newsletter tips for communicating with clients and prospects

sue@DesignatedEditor.com (Suzanne of Designated Editor) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 14:07:00 GMT

Jonathan Kranz's tools and tips for communicating with clients and prospects at New England Expo for Business

E-NEWSLETTERS

Not for: buying lists, need to build one
Use it for: visited site, talk on phone, downloaded something -- INVITE THEM
Make them short & simple: they’ll either read immediately, later never comes

BLOGGING

Old think: should we or shouldn’t we? Yes, you should
Explore thought-leadership matters, news,

What’s the strategy?
Monitor? → Look at the sphere,
Just one thought leader: popular speaker? → give that person a blog
Multiple contributors: → setup guidelines

Mange comments: bad comments, address them or not

Promote it?

Guest speakers

Do you need to have your own blog to be a blogger? Get more traffic elsewhere than own blog

Be present where other readers are

Keep message consistent

Mirror customers' concerns

Offer info of real value: expertise and experience they can use
Spread around where applicable on your site
Social media: think about it strategically
Where are people who are interested in this content gathered?

"Yourwebsite should be like a party: When people show up offer a drink --"Copywriting for Dummies" author at New England EXPO for Business

Effective e-Books step-by-step by Jonathan Kranz "Writing Copy for Dummies" at New England EXPO for Business

"Desire plus danger equals drama" Jonathan Kranz shows how you can have a superb eBook too

"Content is more important than ever before" Jonathan Kranz at New England EXPO for Business

Blogging approaches and tips from Compendium Blogware founder Chris Baggott at the Boston SEO Meetup

sue@DesignatedEditor.com (Suzanne of Designated Editor) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:25:00 GMT

Blogging approaches and tips from -- Compendium Blogware founder Chris Baggott at the Boston SEO Meetup

Chris's background is direct marketing and the catalog industry; he previously founded Exacttarget, in essence emailing for drycleaners

Blogs make great content: Search engines want fresh content, link-building is less important because it's been so abused

Compendium

Is designed for marketers who don’t want to mess with technology
Takes keyword research, establish various blogs for each keyword
Software organizes blog posts for you

Compendium best practices

Every post should be written to your keywords
Be aware you’re creating an impression of credibility
Write 100 to 150 words then move on
Have good call to action, willing to buy after reading your blog
Need to give someone a way to go forward or will bounce away
Have a page about a topic and each page should be only one topic

Keep in mind

Most blog readers are first-timers, very few are subscribers
People are telling you their problem, really blogging for 1st-time visitors
People want to read how you’ve solved a problem like mine
Talk in language of your customer, talk about what you’ve done
Talk about what the customer cares about
Be pithy
Have bold calls to action

Fastest-growing keyword category: phrases that are 8 words long

"Greatcontent isn’t great unless people see it" How social is search andsearch is social with Stuart Foster of The Lost Jacket scout agency forMullen Advertising

Blog and content strategies with Stephen Turcotte of Backbone Media at the Boston SEO Meetup

http://blog.designatededitor.com/2009/07/15/create-great-content-with-byron-white-of-idealaunch-and-lifetips--boston-seo-meetup.aspx

http://blog.designatededitor.com/2009/07/21/create-great-content-byron-white-of-idealaunch--seo-meetup--2d-of-2-parts.aspx

How he's made millions: Amit from SuperAffiliateMindset.com and PPC Classroom

Blogging is like the battle of the bulge -Compendium Blogware founder Chris Baggott at the Boston SEO Meetup

sue@DesignatedEditor.com (Suzanne of Designated Editor) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:26:00 GMT

Battle of the blog comparable to the battle of the bulge: You know youshould eat right and exercise. Great content requires frequency anddiligence -- Compendium Blogware founder Chris Baggott at the Boston SEO Meetup

Chris's background is direct marketing and the catalog industry; he previously founded Exacttarget, in essence emailing for drycleaners

Today, web-based software provides everyone the tools that only big companies had previously

Social Media comprises 16% of online activity

Individual searches are up, but no one is searching for your domain don't waste time on branding

Searchers need someone to solve their problem TODAY.

Hard to predict how someone will describe his problem = lots of terms that people use for what you have

Paid vs organic search

PPC target tons of keywords
Organic = Most websites can only draw traffic on maybe 100 keywords
Problem = How do I win 10,000 terms?
Blogs work so well for search, titles are really important
Blogs lend lots of authority

Web content hierarchy

Most blogs organized improperly
Organize your content so entries will be posted to the correct tightly focused blog that's based on what you’re targeting
Website is a legacy of old media = old ways of cataloging
Websites designed like a magazine, no one coming into your homepage anymore
Think about sitemap pyramid that there’s a big funnel, need a page for each keyword, titled, focused on that keyword
Send right message to right person at the right time

"Greatcontent isn’t great unless people see it" How social is search andsearch is social with Stuart Foster of The Lost Jacket scout agency forMullen Advertising

Blog and content strategies with Stephen Turcotte of Backbone Media at the Boston SEO Meetup

http://blog.designatededitor.com/2009/07/15/create-great-content-with-byron-white-of-idealaunch-and-lifetips--boston-seo-meetup.aspx

http://blog.designatededitor.com/2009/07/21/create-great-content-byron-white-of-idealaunch--seo-meetup--2d-of-2-parts.aspx

How he's made millions: Amit from SuperAffiliateMindset.com and PPC Classroom

Health Care Uses of Twitter and Other Microsharing Technologies with Phil Baumann RN & CEO of CareVocate LLC at the Cool Twitter Conference Boston

sue@DesignatedEditor.com (Suzanne of Designated Editor) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:05:00 GMT

Health Care Uses of Twitter and Other Microsharing Technologies

Cool Twitter Conference Boston

Phil Baumann RN & CEO of CareVocate LLC
@philbaumann

Popular hashtags and Tweeps in health care

    #HCSM Health care social media
    #HCMKTG Health care marketing
    @CDCemergency
    @CDCflu

Twitter an excellent platform for health and health facilities

ER wait times
Disaster response
Drug safety alerts
Post-discharge patient support
Recruiting staff
Promoting healthy lifestyles

Not so scary to tweet and comply with HIPAA

Tips for Twitter, health care and beyond

Listen
Monitor
Search
Make sound judgments about who you follow
Twazzup: offers real-time results, look at links and try to find most popular

"Great content isn’t great unless people see it" How social is search and search is social with Stuart Foster of The Lost Jacket scout agency for Mullen Advertising

sue@DesignatedEditor.com (Suzanne of Designated Editor) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:04:00 GMT

How social is search and search is social with Stuart Foster of The Lost Jacket scout agency for Mullen Advertising at the Boston SEO Meetup

Food sponsor: CentersandSquares.com

Great content isn’t great unless people see it

How to network your content

The Lost Jacket … scout agency for Mullen Advertising, started 18 months ago

Social bookmarking sites: who’s submitting, when, what time?

Who you know, who your connections are how well you are in bed with those people

Front page of Digg can drive 20,000 hits in a matter of hours

SEO and marketing: Can generate 15,000 links from commenting

Outposting strategy

one type of hub where content lives
try to drive links there
conversions, leads
have outposts and drawn in from there to main site

Twitter #1 influx

Needs to be targeted to appropriate demographic

Every product requires a different approach

For biz: want to create a resource to gain loyalty

Monitoring results

Whos talkin
Postrank
Google Alerts
Technorati completely obsolete, relevant in 2005 not now
Radian6, but don’t get sentiment

Most common mistakes

Host your blog
Own your domain
Own your data

Microsites and redirect to Facebook

Provide relevant, content that’s interesting to the people who are following me

Twollow: setup keywords, determine who to follow
SocialToo: churn and burn followers

Content: Keep to 80-20 rule when it comes to selling, 20 percent selling, 80 percent information

Previous SEO Meetups

Blog and content strategies with Stephen Turcotte of Backbone Media at the Boston SEO Meetup

“Create Great Content” with Byron White of IdeaLaunch and LifeTips @ Boston SEO Meetup

“Create Great Content” Byron White of IdeaLaunch @ SEO Meetup -- 2d of 2 parts

"Community Organizing in Our Underwear: Goals Accomplished, Mistakes Made and Lessons Learned from a Focused, TwoWeek Grassroots Twitter Campaign to 'Save Scooters' in Massachusetts" Cool Twitter Conference Boston

sue@DesignatedEditor.com (Suzanne of Designated Editor) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:45:00 GMT

"Community Organizing in Our Underwear: Goals Accomplished, MistakesMade and Lessons Learned from a Focused, TwoWeek Grassroots TwitterCampaign to 'Save Scooters' in Massachusetts"

Sean Fitzroy, Filmmaker, Professor, Internet Media, The New England Institute of Art Technologist and Strategist

Cool Twitter Conference Boston #CTC

Have brand, logo, your statement and a link for more info

Develop unique hashtag that makes sense

Look into autofollow tools to track others

Define and clarify your mission b/c you’ll be asked

Comment on traditional media w/ links

Get a petition going, offer email signup: Twitter/Facebook don’t get you emails

Getting people to learn new tools (RSS feed)

Don’t give away too much info: new technique fliers only provide the means to find out more

We’re still in web 1.0: people won’t signup for Twitter for your campaign, for now we’re still stuck with email

Lessons learned

Easy to start a social media protest campaign
You become a spokesperson so you better know you’re stuff
Determine how much you want to leverage your personal Twitter account
You may establish yourself as the go-to person on this topic forever

Get on Google Alerts, be the first commenter on mainstream media or you’ll be buried

Allow a mean for people to find out more, jump off mainstream media

Put out your story, let people follow your struggles

The retweeters are your ambassadors

People will want to meet you: Find your allies and figure out whether your agendas match

More from the Cool Twitter Conference Boston
Twitter Bootcamp at the Cool Twitter Conference Boston

Twitter-meet-Glogster: An Applied Case Study at the Cool Twitter Conference Boston with Andrew Connelly

Cool Twitter Conference Boston: Hearing from upcomers with cool projects like Fourth Fiction, the first blog‐based literary reality show

Search Marketing Careers with Tim Dineen of OnwardSearch at SEMNE

sue@DesignatedEditor.com (Suzanne of Designated Editor) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:15:00 GMT

Search Marketing Careers with Tim Dineen, VP of Internet Marketing, OnwardSearch at SEMNE

The upside

SEM spending projected to double by 2011
In 2012 Interactive marketing will reach $61 billion, SEM will triple over next 5 years

The upside for candidates, downside for employers

Lack of feeder programs to meet demand
Education is lacking outside of trade shows
64% of companies say finding SEO specialist is harder than other specialists

Average salaries

SEO $71K
SEM $68K
Social Media Marketing $61K

Useful sites

Indeed.com
Simplyhired.com
Craigslist not included in job search engine

Even if salary not specified, Indeed.com will try to estimate the salary

LinkedIn job search will also show you who you may be linked with in that company

"Scattered by thousands of miles, but online we can be right next to each other" Employee Engagement & Social Media on a Low-Fare Budget -Southwest Airlines' Millie Richter

sue@DesignatedEditor.com (Suzanne of Designated Editor) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:47:00 GMT

"Scattered by thousands of miles, but online we can be right next to each other"

Employee Engagement & Social Media on a Low-Fare Budget

Millie Richter, Southwest Airlines Employee Communications Specialist
Presented by Yankee Chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC)
Hosted by RDW Group

Reinforce SWA culture, pursue transparency, seek informed employees

Every day
Today@SWA M-F newsletter:

34K employees via company email
Printed and hung at every work location
Started in 1983, at that time was hand-delivered, weekly

SWALife intranet active 24/7

Pulse point, weekly survey: gauge how feel or understanding of concepts
Roundtables for various departments

Each Week

Gary’s New Line (CEO Gary Kelly): via phone, call in to recording, give shout out to celebrate employees
Red Belly Radio: podcast, similar to “This American Life”
SWA TV: video programming for employees: how-to, sneak peek of ad campaigns

Monthly
LuvLines

24-32 page magazine to all employees
full color funded by ads
in depth for what’s going on
embed employee number in each issue to win non-standby passes

Recent issue: Boston Launch
TweetUp the night before, volunteer cleanup and painting at a school

Quarterly
Southwest score card

13 metrics across 5 areas that impact performance, including
safety
fuel efficiency
customer service

Annually

Mid-year DVD, but this year visiting 35 locations for open forums
“Message to the Field” State of Union

Other communications initiatives

Operation Kick Tail

#1 Low cost, customer satisfaction & employee spirit
When you see employee doing great job, write it up, give 10 $1,000 tax-free prizes monthly, plus addt'l prizes

Show “Airline” on A&E SWA had no editorial control

Nuts About Southwest blog

Virtual focus group
Make and break news
Tell rest of the story: why we did it
Post even the bad feedback
30+ employee bloggers
Bloggers selected for representing SW spirit and culture

Only 15 people on PR, media and internal communications team, so can’t do it all themselves

Active on social media as well as aviation blogs: passionate about travel and aviations, supportive even though they can be critical

Blog 2.0

launched 2008
YouTube feeds, more creativity
Visits up 25%
Visitors staying 26% longer
Page views up 40%
Conversions up but statistic not available to share

Employee bloggers

Write about something passionate about and what people will be interested in
Don’t edit for content
Blog is moderated, no personal attacks or vulgarity, 2 moderators

Starting internal blog next year

Blog Case Study
Open Season on Assigned Seating

700 comments
Most said don’t change it
Influenced the new boarding process
Virtual focus group

YouTube
Have pros putting together segments
Rapping flight attendant: got mainstream coverage simply using YouTube and Twitter, singing flight attendant also got traction

Advice: put it up and see what happens: Commercial circa 1972

Email correspondence from customers, email them a video that explains the problem: “why delayed?” “ATC” “what’s that?” “Watch this”

Twitter
started July 2007, took off the first quarter of this year, ave 7,000 new followers per day

Crisis communication: Twitter broke Hudson landing story within 10 minutes
Learned that had to build online communications into crisis communications

Employees need to be aware everyone is a reporter

Decompression hole: Tweet congratulated crew, assured everyone was safe, next day reported that planes were inspected

Facebook

Started with contests, marketing messages
Caught on among non-true believers who abandoned, but now have nearly 80,000 fans (as of publish date)
Up to 200 comments a day, both good and bad

Southwest's Communications Tips

Establish communications channels and build relationships before you really need them
Fans will defend you
Don’t be afraid to interact: get out there and be real
Act fast, perfection isn’t paramount
Harder to repair reputation damage than to maintain it
Look outside your department to build a strong team

Keep social media in communications, not marketing; Southwest cares about getting to know people, not just pushing sales.

Another big brand making a big splash

How Dunkin Does Social ... mmm donuts at OMMA Global

Blog and content strategies with Stephen Turcotte of Backbone Media at the Boston SEO Meetup

sue@DesignatedEditor.com (Suzanne of Designated Editor) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:46:00 GMT

Blog and content strategies with Stephen Turcotte of Backbone Media
October meeting of Boston SEO Meetup

Food sponsor CookieOutlet.com, coupon offer code: BostonSEO

Backbone Media, started 1996, didn’t realize were doing content strategies

Content strategy

Taking something you already have, know about, that your customers are interested in and make it useful to them

Every strategy starts with a goal

Who are your customers
What are they looking for?
Solutions?

The Balsams.com resort in NH

What else could be done to drive new people?
Campaign: Take your family to get your kids off the wii
Keywords
Audience that you want to reach: i.e. Mothers concerned about “kids spending too much time …”

Tibco: biz intel software

Write about trends in software space
Find experts who bloggers
Use diff angles, leverage content already out there in Forbes, Biz Journal, summarize and then add your angle
ID keywords, which ones are you not hitting

Creating content

Best when company can write its own content, but it’s hard to do, takes so much time to find something to write about, publish it, and follow upon the comments

~~Great bloggers tend to peter out after time~~
Thanks for further clarification from Stephen Turcotte:

“Lots of companies think they have people who could be greatbloggers, but they tend to peter out after time” it would be moreaccurate to what I was trying to say. In contrast, a common trait insuccessful bloggers is that they maintain a strong commitment tolistening, writing posts, and commenting regularly; month after month,year after year. It takes a special commitment to doing that.

Editor's note: That is what he said, but my fingers couldn't keep up. Back to our program ...

Have someone relevant in-house, but clients know don’t have time to do it

Tie into Twitter and FB, get active on Twitter, push clients

Should be posting 2-4 times a week for difficult keywords, less if you’re in a niche

Planning

Where see best bang for the buck?
What topics can’t cover in the site but that are of interest to your customers?
What’s relevant to customer in past 2 weeks, 6 months, 2 years: Example: Swine flu

Execution

Think a little outside the box
Have quality and be useful
Don’t do what everyone else is doing, building content over time
Be relevant to audience, even if you’re regulated, there’s areas of interest
Talk about topics that affect your targets

Tracking conversions

Help the company by creating a strong call to action, convert a visitor into a lead
Get them into the blog: Can be tracked organically based on keyword
Convert them to someplace: Really strong call to action: Go to form and fill it out, that’s a conversion
10-20 articles in second month, start measuring in months 3-5

Results

Create a footprint for the business, goal isn’t to be the best blogger
Publish where it'll stick, get into architecture that will last, won’t disappear, going to keep it for 2-3 years
Think of how much traffic can this content send to my company for the next 1-2 years

Previous SEO Meetups

“This cupcake thing is killing my summer,” an evening with Ryan Abood of GourmetGiftBaskets.com

“Create Great Content” with Byron White of IdeaLaunch and LifeTips @ Boston SEO Meetup

“Create Great Content” Byron White of IdeaLaunch @ SEO Meetup -- 2d of 2 parts

How he's made millions: Amit from SuperAffiliateMindset.com and PPC Classroom

Google AdWords with Speaker: Michael Briggs, VP Search Strategies @ Website Publicity, hosted by Boston SEO Internet Marketing
Networking Group

Flip ‘n Save: What Is Keeping Brands from Mobile Couponing? at OMMA Global

sue@DesignatedEditor.com (Suzanne of Designated Editor) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:02:00 GMT

Flip ‘n Save: What Is Keeping Brands from Mobile Couponing? at OMMA Global

Moderator: Michael Foschietti, Managing Director, Mobisix

Panelists
Dennis Cook, Director, Mobile Marketing, Citadel Media
Cynthia Methvin, Digital Media Analyst, Scarborough Research
August Trometer, Co-founder, Yowza!!
Phuc Truong, Managing Director, U.S. Mobile Marketing, Mobext

Cynthia Methvin: 70% of coupon clips still come from the paper, but most people forget them, never use them

Marketers: People looking for a good deal, what better to brand than when ppl are looking for help, get brand ID when ppl are pinching pennies

Media Post research:
1 in 10 interested in getting coupon on phone
3 in 10 very interested in getting coupon on phone

start mobile club, get ppl to opt in, no more than 1x/wk on a particulr topic
be sure members can self-select

12% redemption rate

if consumers are ready, why aren’t retailers?

Phuc: have to be easy for customer to use and not prolong checkout time

6-12 month sales cycles for large-scale retailers: needs to be a top-down decision

restaurants especially: coupon fraud #1 concern

More notes from OMMA Global New York 2009, and more to come.

Stay on top of it all with the convenience of RSS feed, see "Syndicate" link in the lefthand tool bar ...

The State of the Agency Business -- An Analyst’s View With Jordan Rohan at OMMA Global

GotClicks, Need Conversion? Optimizing the Full Click – from the BannerAd, to Landing Page to Conversion with Omniture at OMMA Global

The New Socialism: Content Owners’ Undoing? Panel at OMMA Global

How the New Socialism Is Destroying the Old Capitalism with Terence Kawaja, GCA Savvian Advisors at OMMA Global

How Dunkin Does Social ... mmm donuts at OMMA Global

Transforming Social Media Connections Into Qualified Leads at OMMA Global

The New York Times Meets the Social Web

BLOG.DESIGNATEDEDITOR.COM

Pick Monday sessions at South by Southwest Interactive 2010

Which SXSWi sessions should I blog about?

Monday, March 15th

Concurrent sessions

Concurrent sessions

More concurrent sessions

More concurrent sessions

5 p.m. concurrent sessions

5 p.m. concurrent sessions

Previous SXSW posts:

Thanks to Michelle for voting on Sunday's SXSW session selections

Which SXSWi sessions should I blog about?

Sunday, March 14th

Concurrent sessions

Concurrent sessions

More concurrent sessions

Even more concurrent sessions

We have to ask: Who are these people and how can we make it easy to buy? Rishad Tobaccowala: “Data Doesn’t Bleed” Keynote at OMMA Behavioral

Agencies, consultants, B2Bs need to listen to clients: They really want to know what their customers want

State of the market

Marketers' perceptions

Don’t underestimate how overworked agencies are or how smart they have become

Keep in mind what are they looking for

Recommendations for online agencies and marketers

Mobile, Local, Social, Personal: Google's answer to "The Future of Search" straight from Google Senior Agency Relations Manager Lisa Green

Search is being redefined by mobile, local, social, personal, augmented reality

By a device revolution: Mobile phones

Personalization How can we truly personalize?

Augmented reality Fuse digital to actual world

Localization & personalized search

Social circle personalization

Omnivorous search box: everything you've searched

Adding greater depth to search

Q&A

Q. How long until we have conversation w search engines? Have phone talk back to you?

A. Devices need improvement, technology is there on Google's end

Q. Local listings: Google maps?

A. Local extensions released recently, improvements and beta tests within local Mobile, can target by device and carrier: AT&T and iPhone users within geo space

Q. Does Google know searches across devices, if you searched from phone, will results on desktop reflect phone search?

A. Only if logged in, but try to keep separate so results not skewed

Q. Location-based banner advertising?

A. iPhone doesn't allow but android does, up to the carriers, Google working toward those results while protecting privacy

A. Device and carrier targeting is latest, for sponsored ads. Can select whether just want full browser phones. More coming in mobile

Other nuggets

Bottom line

Google's focus is always on users and giving them what they want

Previous "Voice of Google" posts

Coming up on Feb. 5: "The Future of Search: Google's Perspective"

SEMPO Boston Working Group presents The Future of Search - Hosted at Google's Cambridge Office

Previous Google post

What's Next for E-Commerce? Further growth in SEO, Affiliate Marketing, Mobile, Social Media

What Will "E-Commerce 2.0" Look Like in the Next Few Years?

E-commerce developments

Social Media

Mobile & shifting rapidly across marketing channels

Other e-commerce innovations

Appyling appropriate Social Media strategy, stemming from a LinkedIn discussion

Fodder from a discussion on LinkedIn that showcases appropriate application of Social Media

Original post: Physicians vs. Social Media: What's your experience?

Original post: Physicians vs. Social Media: What's your experience?

Designated Editor's Take

Designated Editor's Take

MarketingSherpa Chart: Why Consumers Friend or Follow Companies

What does 2010 hold? Timeless tips for Search Marketing, SEO, and Social Media

True North When Navigating Search Marketing and Social Media

Timeless Search Marketing and Social Media Tips

Jonathan Kranz's blogging and newsletter tips for communicating with clients and prospects

Jonathan Kranz's tools and tips for communicating with clients and prospects at New England Expo for Business

E-NEWSLETTERS

BLOGGING

Mirror customers' concerns

More from Jonathan Kranz

Blogging approaches and tips from Compendium Blogware founder Chris Baggott at the Boston SEO Meetup

Blogging approaches and tips from -- Compendium Blogware founder Chris Baggott at the Boston SEO Meetup

Compendium

Compendium best practices

Keep in mind

More posts from the Boston SEO Meetup

Blogging is like the battle of the bulge -Compendium Blogware founder Chris Baggott at the Boston SEO Meetup

More from the Cool Twitter Conference Boston
Twitter Bootcamp at the Cool Twitter Conference Boston