The Secret Diary of a Bonafide Marketing Genius

Dear Diary,

In November of 2007, the marketing Genius whom you know and love (MOI!) wrote an entry entitled Search vs. Social Media Smackdown, Round 2 in which I made, in my oh-so-humble opinion, a very compelling case for taking one’s SEM blinders off and dipping a brave little toe into the murky waters of social media.

At the time, of course I was unequivocally sick of search engine marketing with it’s CPCs and CPAs and various other annoying acronyms [blech!]. While I still find the acronyms and the tediousness of setting up and managing a successful search campaign quite excruciating, I have amended my view on which tactic wins “the smackdown”. In fact, I am now 150% certain that the two are not mortal enemies… but soul mates!

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Dear Diary,

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of speaking at Social Media Breakfast #14 on the timely topic of “Social Media Overload.” I’ll admit, I was tempted to call my presentation “What the F**K is Social Media Overload?” —but as a marketing genius, I decided it’s best not to play the One Trick Pony card.

I’m sorry you missed it, Diary. It was a spankin’ good time. And since I’d hate for you to feel left out, I’m posting the “transcript” below. Enjoy!

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BEGIN TRANSCRIPT!

Has this ever happened to you?

Or someone you love?

One minute, they’re quietly updating their Twitter status… checking out their friend’s baby shower pictures on Flickr… or taking one of those fun “which celebrity boyfriend would you be” quizzes on Facebook… when suddenly they see a Tweet about a must-see YouTube video and BAM!, just like that, their head explodes.

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And neither will a really fat media budget… but we’ll get to that…

Two days after returning from the AdAge Digital Conference, I’m still stuck on the Earned vs. Paid Media discussion that kicked off the event. continue reading »

by murplej@ne - under deconstruction

I guess this is “old news,” as the data I’m about to share comes from a 2007 IBM Global Business Services study (aptly titled “The end of advertising as we know it”)—but perhaps that makes it even more compelling. Here goes:

71% of the 2400 consumers surveyed across five countries said they spend >2 hours/day on the Internet—not including continue reading »

A lot of folks still don’t “get” Twitter. [And Twitter, meanwhile, still doesn't "get" revenue... but that's another story.] But personally, the Genius L.O.V.E.S. it.

Crowd-sourcing, networking, buzz marketing, and pure entertainment are the top 4 reasons that I personally heart the #1 micro-blogging tool. Here’s another one:

True story.

Earlier this week, I discovered a very nice, comprehensive deck put together by the folks at Ogilvy [I know, surprised me, too!] called Twitter for Business. You might also want to check out this post for some excellent tips on getting personal value out of Twitter; and this post on how not to let corporate lawyers f**k up a good Twitter thang.

Unless you plan to go off the grid sometime soon, I wholeheartedly suggest you take the time to at least edu-macate yourself. And if/when you do start tweetin’, be sure to say hello.

[slideshare id=745515&doc=ogilvypr360ditwitterwebinar-1226501475706032-9&w=425]

Today is the last official date for voting in the “World’s Best Presentation Contest” on SlideShare. (Speaking of which… if you haven’t yet voted for “What the F**K is Social Media?!”, DO IT NOW!!!)

Shameless self-promotion aside (but only for a minute), I thought this was a good time to address some of the questions and understandable skepticism that emerged in response to the not-so-subtle messages in said presentation.

So—let’s separate fact from fiction (or at least fact from hyperbole), shall we?

The first batch of “that can’t be right” criticism (and downright bitch-i-tude—you know who you are) was doled out in response to the following statements (from slides 11-16):

73% of active online users have read a blog

45% have started their own blog

39% subscribe to an RSS feeds

57% have joined a social network

55% have uploaded photos

83% have watched video clips

And now, for the shocking truth:
The Genius herself was more than a bit surprised by these numbers. You might even say they were the inspiration for the big ole “F**K!” that became the content of slide 46.

But the fact is, I didn’t pull them out of my cute little ass… they actually came from Universal McCann’s Comparative Study on Social Media Trends, April 2008, and they’re based on a series of surveys they conducted with over 17,000 respondents across 29 countries.

In Universal McCann’s own words:

“All surveys are self completion and the data collected is entirely quantitative. Every market is representative of the 16-54 Active Internet Universe. In this Wave 17,000 internet users in 29 countries were interviewed. To be included you need to be using the internet everyday or every other day.”

So, there!

The next pile of skeptical poo was flung at these juicy tidbits:

Only 18% of TV ad campaigns generate positive ROI

90% of people who can skip TV ads, do.

Only 14% of people trust advertisements

And did these little beauties come from betwixt my perfectly peach-shaped buns?

Again—NO.

They came from a useful little book called Connected Marketing: The Viral, Buzz and Word of Mouth Revolution by Justin Kirby and Paul Marsden (buy a copy here).

Just for giggles, take a look at some of the other painfully compelling data you’ll find within its pages:

Average return in sales for every $1 spent on advertising: 54 cents!!!

The increase in TV advertising costs (CPM) in the past decade: 256%

Proportion of B2B marketing campaigns resulting in falling sales: 84%

The increase needed in advertising spend to add 1-2% in sales: 100%

Say it with me now: YIKES!!!!!!!!!!

Last but not least, a few people got their panties all in a bunch about the use of http://www.mystarbucksidea.com and the apparent lack of “real” case studies or ROI data.

[Here’s me rolling my eyes]

So, fine, I’ll satisfy your incessant and moderately annoying need for numbers by providing you with a few details on NikePlus.com (others to follow in future posts—maybe). If you want to learn more NOW, you’ll just have to hire me or invite me to speak at your next event.

Here goes:

The Genius Behind NikePlus.com!

Nike’s social media play did two things that most brands fall shamefully short on:

1) They created a playground for anyone passionate about the activity enabled by the product (whether they owned Nike products or not)
2) They enabled relationship-building with consumers who do own their product(s) that goes way beyond the initial purchase.

And here’s how they did it….

First, the smart folks at Nike recognized 3 simple things about their target audience:

1. People who love to run, love to listen to music while running
2. People who love to listen to music while running typically use an iPod to do so
3. People who love to run like to measure and track their distance/time

Next, the smart folks at Nike created an online experience that caters directly to these three user objectives. They partnered with Apple to bring iTunes into the mix, offering celebrity running mixes (and a whole lot more), and developed products and online tools (like the ability to track runs, challenge other runners in the community, and engage in competitive events locally) that supported and enhanced the offline experience.

Since its launch in May 2006, the NikePlus.com community has not only grown but THRIVED, earning the brand a much-deserved Cannes Lions 2007 award and lots of positive press.

“But what about numbers? Where’s the ROI? WHERE’S THE BEEF?!”

Feast your eyes on this, my friends! As of February, 2008, Nike+ members have:

• Run over 50,000,000 miles
• Logged over 14,000,000 runs
• Issued over 450,000 challenges
• Created “the world’s largest running club” with >75,000,000 members!!!!!!

And here’s the crown jewel:

• 40% of community members who didn’t own Nike+ ended up BUYING!
• 94% of consumers agreed to recommend NikePlus.com to a friend

When was the last time your marketing campaign yielded a 40% conversion-to-sales ratio?

I rest my case.

Now, if you STILL haven’t done so, it’s time to go ahead and vote for the Genius’ presentation here.

Although the so-called “Social Media Press Release” (pioneered by my pals at SHIFT Communications) has received [arguably] equal doses of praise and criticism, the Genius, whose word is Gospel!—at least on this blog—has this to say about it:

PURE. UNADULTERATED. GENIUS.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Social Media Release debate, Brian Solis does an excellent job of recapping the evolution and arguments both for and against the SMR. Most of the arguments against, I’d like to point out, smack of a common syndrome I like to call “I-fear-change!”

The problem, my pretties, is that change is a-comin’. In PR, in marketing, and in media at large. And whether you get on the train now or spend the next decade chasing (or throwing stones at) it, it’s leaving the station—with or without you.

The Genius, of course, is not a PR professional, so my interest in SMR is perhaps conceptual—i.e., what value does it have for my clients? For my company? For my career? (Me, me, me!) And the short answer to all those is questions is: PLENTY.

For example: consider applying its principles—or those of the Social Media Newsroom (another SHIFT contribution)—to your resume. What if instead of keeping your entire professional history in a Word doc that you update only when you absolutely have to, you created a Social Media Resume that highlights your experience and interests, provides links to your various online profiles, invites comments, aggregates news, builds “link love”—and (if done well), becomes a virtual vacuum of career advancement opportunities? Heck, even if a social media resume doesn’t open the flood gates to opportunity, at the very least, it will save a few trees and eliminate the need to send monster-truck-sized attachments to prospective employers. And, for the time being at least, it will set you apart from the pack by [at the very least] highlighting your working knowledge of social media tools.

Think about it.

As a Genius who endeavors to practice what she preaches, I decided to do a little experimenting with the idea of a social media resume myself. First, I dug around to see if there were any good examples already out there (the Genius doesn’t like cliches, but will use one just this once: “Why reinvent the wheel?”). I found Chris Penn’s landmark example and the ubiquitous Bryan Person’s famous “Die, Resume! Die! Die! Die!” blog post (which, conveniently, included his own example and ‘how to’). There’s Rohit Bhargava’s social media bio and Matt Dickman’s social-media-enriched ‘traditional’ resume.

Armed with a satisfying portion of good ideas, I set to work on a first draft of my very own social media resume, cherry-picking among the infinite options, and surrendering to the idea that, like all things digital, it will always be a work-in-progress.

For those of you who believe that following in the Genius’ footsteps might result in a little genius rubbing up against rubbing off on you (Pervert!), here my recipe:

1. Create a Wordpress account.
2. Buy your domain name (if you don’t own http://www.YourName.com yet, first, slap yourself upside the head, then DO SOMETHING about it, puh-lease!)
3. Write a short “About me” intro. This is in effect your ‘cover letter’ or ‘executive summary’. That doesn’t mean it should be boring or lame.
4. Add all of your contact info, links to all of your social media profiles (I added LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Squidoo, & Slideshare—for now).
5. Add links to your blog(s) and any work samples readily available online. If your work samples aren’t yet online, consider posting them on Scribd.com, Slideshare.net or similar service.
6. Add a link to your traditional resume, so that folks that insist on killing trees can do so at their convenience.
7. Add a feed to your purpose-built del.icio.us links.
8. Consider adding any of the following: headshot, intro audio or video, your speaking/travel calendar, any rich media you’ve created (podcasts, videos, etc.), recommendations/rave reviews.
9. Turn commenting ON. This is a 2-way dialogue, remember?
10. Make it easy as possible for folks to reach you, blog about you, hire you, link to you, and so on.

For those of you wondering why it’s not enough to have a complete LinkedIn profile, I say—that’s a really good start. If you don’t have a LinkedIn profile yet, well… do not pass Go, do not collect $200… go directly to LinkedIn.com and start there.

But for those of you looking for an ‘edge’ or simply sharing Bryan’s “Resume, Die!” sentiment, this new approach just may be the ticket.

While the term “Web 2.0″ has become rather cliche, it’s ugly step-children, Marketing 2.0, PR 2.0, Branding 2.0, Advertising 2.0, and (Dear God) Business 2.0 are just beginning to see their days in the sun.

Unfortunately, there’s a gigantic gap between coining a term and embodying it—and thus we hear a lot of talk and see very few results on any of the above fronts (though the Genius does her best to chronicle those rare gems that do).

Today’s Bonafide Genius Awards go—for better or worse—to two shining examples in the “talk” category. (It seems my search for examples of “results” this week has been fruitless.) Clever, pointed, entertaining, and spot-on in their articulation of the industry cross-roads that smart marketing pros are responding to, they’re shining examples of how dull, cliche terms get a new shine when someone puts a little Genius into their message.

Congrats to Openhere for The Break Up and Paul Isakson of space150 for What’s Next in Marketing & Advertising.

Advertising 2.0 Genius (a.k.a. “The Break-Up”)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3qltEtl7H8]

Marketing 2.0 Strategy (a.k.a. “What’s Next in Marketing & Advertising”)

[slideshare id=318143&doc=whats-next-in-marketing-advertising-1206247156803190-3&w=425]

P.S. A good number of you (the smarter ones, that is) have already seen these, but for the rest of you… watch and learn.

Hopping on the Social Media Marketing bandwagon? You’re not alone. Seems user-generated content and social media marketing are becoming as ubiquitous as the tacky inflatable snowmen with which my neighbors continue to pollute their yards.

The trick, my little sugarplums, isn’t to simply embrace the trend… but to master it.

Or in your case, not to make an ass of yourself the first time out of the gate! [sigh]

Lucky for you, I’m feeling rather generous today! And so, The Genius shall share her personal list of Social Media “Do’s and Don’t’s”—with the full knowledge that you’ll probably screw your program up anyway.

[sigh] It isn’t easy being so brilliant and flawless. But it’s my cross to bear.

Social Media Marketing “DO’s”:
1. For crap’s sake, please DO establish clear business objectives for your social media marketing efforts—before you even think about launching a campaign of any kind.

Seriously: If I see one more blog, podcast, or pointless viral marketing campaign launch with no clear strategy other than to satisfy the overgrown ego of some bonehead executive [who got their MBA when dinosaurs still roamed the earth]… well, I just might barf!

2. DO establish your metrics—yes, before you launch.
You can’t manage what you can’t measure, right, people? It’s Marketing 101.

Social media is no exception to this rule.

Now, I know that “goals” and “metrics” seem tedious and about as sexy as plumber’s crack, but trust me: it’s your only hope of having something more meaningful to say the next time your boss asks how the social media campaign is doing than, “Uh…”

[Side note: Why is it that so many businesses treat their marketing strategy like a leisurely drive through the country?

“No, we don’t have a map or specific destination in mind… but we’ll know we’re good when we get there…. Oh wait… I think we’re lost… and we’re running out of gas! Shit… I told you we should have asked for directions!!!!”

Don’t be stupid. And don’t be a wimp. ROI isn’t the only meaningful business metric, so don’t become a slave to it. Consider what’s most relevant, metric-wise to your company’s business objectives. For a cheat sheet on some of the best metrics for SMM, check this out.

3. DO your homework. (And I don’t mean “Do do your homework”, because that would be very messy.)
Social media isn’t rocket science, but it’s not your run-of-the-mill tool for broadcasting product features and benefits either. You’ve taken a great first step by reading this blog post; now go read a few others. This basic primer by one of my favorite marketing bloggers, CK, is another great place to start. If all else fails, I’m sure there’s a copy of Social Media for Dummies out there somewhere just waiting for a home.

Side note: If you’re a control-freak and can’t get jiggy with the idea of your marketing messages becoming a two-way communication, perhaps you’d be better off investing your correspondence-course education on something more suitable—like annoying pop-up ads or a nice, cheesy infomercial.

3. DO get to know the community before you ask something of them.
Like it or not, the same rules apply here as in the larger game of life, only amplified. Read: you can’t show up to a new school/office/neighborhood and immediately ask people for stuff. You’ve got to give a little first. Get to know them. Maybe even let them get to know you.

To do this well, you’ll need to a) actually spend some time observing and [gasp!] interacting with the communities that are relevant to your market segment(s).

I.e., What conversations are taking place? And who is shaping/influencing those conversations (and how)?

I know it may sound creepy, but you’ve got to do a little lurking before you barge in with your brilliant addition to the conversation. Get to know the topics, the people, and the tone of the dialogue. Remember the key word here is “ENGAGEMENT”—not broadcasting.

4. DO take an integrated approach to your social media efforts—particularly with respect to SEO.
Yes, yes, I know I’ve been bashing SEO since before the dawn of man… but the truth is, an integrated approach to search and social media makes a lot more sense than throwing either one under a bus. Social media marketing (and blogging in particular) can have a dramatic impact on organic search—assuming, of course, that you’re clever enough to pepper your blog with relevant keywords and phrases, and to keep the content fresh and the incoming links/comments/trackbacks a-flowing.

DUH!

5. DO start small and “fail fast”.
The skeptics who poo-poo social media as an effective marketing tool do so because, well… the vast majority of social media campaigns are pretty big failures. After all, there’s a learning curve. Plus… few of the folks that have come before you were blessed with the marvelous wisdom I’ve bestowed on you here!

The question is, will you follow in their mediocre footsteps? Or blow them away with your strategic, iterative, and flexible approach that treads carefully [and cheaply] into new territory, all the while honing your strategy on-the-fly.

Ooh, that’s so Web 2.0!

Tune in next week for “Part 2: The DONTs.”

A few weeks ago, I applied for a job with a popular travel search engine. The VP of Marketing was looking for an experienced online marketer to manage the company’s SEO/SEM programs—which, for a bonafide genius like me, is child’s play. In my cover letter, I told him upfront that I wasn’t interested in a search-only marketing position. In my characteristically brilliant way, I explained that my talents would be wasted on a search-only marketing strategy and that I had infinitely more valuable capabilities to offer.

Whether he never read my letter or simply found my insubordination irresistible, I’ll never know… the point is, he invited me for an interview.

Once in his office, he asked me about my experience with SEO/SEM as a marketing tool.

“Feh,” I said. “Search is dead to me.”

As the color drained from his face and his fists clenched in his lap, I dove into an impassioned monologue about why an online marketing strategy that leads with SEO/SEM was doomed to fail:

“It’s too narrow, too tedious, and frankly, it’s too 2006.”

I proceeded to tell him that to achieve his company’s lofty goal of becoming the #2 travel search engine in the world (first of all, who sets their sites on becoming #2?), they’d need to broaden their focus to include all that Web 2.0 has made possible—and all that Web 3.0 promises:

Sophisticated search + User-generated content + Social networking + Contextual/demographic/behavioral targeting + Portable personalization = Genuinely relevant content that I trust in whatever media format I prefer.

Simply put, SEO/SEM just ain’t gonna cut it.

He didn’t throw me out of his office… but I could tell he wanted to.

Now don’t get me wrong, I understand why Mr. Fancy Pants is so attached to his beloved Search. It comes down to one word: Measurability. As a direct response medium, Search is tough to beat. Experienced search marketers know they wield a lot of power in their SEO/SEM campaigns; they can deliver top-line metrics to their CMO or their CEO or whatever yo-yo is in charge. They can control their CPA and their ROI (had enough acronyms yet?) and make adjustments both large and small with the ease of a keystroke. And though it’s getting harder to produce big, fat results very quickly or without a big investment up-front (search ain’t the new kid on the block anymore!), Search is still King with many online marketers.

And dinosaurs once roamed the earth. So what? Change happens. It’s happening right now.

“Search is a unique proposition — this is why Google is Google and many Googlers are rich. However, search does not exist in a vacuum any more than television or direct mail does. A search engine is no longer the exclusive point of entry to the Internet for many people. Social networking sites like MySpace and FaceBook have become portals to a huge number of Web users. If the goal of the marketer is to reach the most potential customers online, thereby maximizing return on investment as a whole, it is critical to engage users throughout their online journey which, as we all become more sophisticated Web users, is increasingly not always begun at a search engine.” —excerpted from The Challenges of Measuring The Performance Of Emerging Media For A Search-Centric Advertiser by Nancy Adzentoivich, Friday, Nov 9, 2007

Here, here!

But don’t just take Nancy’s word for it, or mine for that matter… look at some of the data:

• WOM ranks highest in driving consumers’ purchase decisions—above TV, Internet, print, and radio [source: BIGResearch, simultaneous media usage study, 2005]
• Americans engage in 3.5 billion(!) brand-related conversations every day [source: Keller Fay Group]
• Two-thirds of marketing/communications professionals are planning to increase their investment in conversational marketing within the next twelve months; 57% project that in five years they will be spending more on conversational marketing than traditional marketing [source: TWI Surveys, Inc.]
• A whopping 96% of 9-17 year olds are connecting to a social network at least once a week [source: Alloy Media & Marketing]

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the next big wave is coming… and fast. You can stick your head in the sand and pretend it’s not happening… or you can pull yourself up by the bootstraps and learn how to take the reigns.

[Or you can see how many overused metaphors you can string together into one meaningless sentence...]

If you’re still quaking in your boots at the thought of exploring the Brave New World of social media, allow me to assuage your fears about its measurability: You can, in fact, measure the impact of your efforts. Here are just a few of the possible metrics you might plug into your neat little dashboard:

• Number of uniques
• Returning vs. new users
• Referring traffic
• Google Page Rank
• Technorati authority
• Time spent on site
• Page views
• Conversation index (ratio of blog posts to blog comments)
• Tone of conversation, comments, posts
• Speed or velocity of spread, viral

(above list excerpted from Kami Huse’s enlightening presentation on Measuring Social Media)

There’s also the soon-to-be-well-known Net Promoter Score, ideally-suited for measuring social media campaign efficacy:

NPS = % of Promoters - % of Detractors.

It’s not a pure ROI calculation, but it gets to the root of whether a customer/reader/community member would recommend you—or not—as a percentage of the total activity on your social media platform.

So to those of you who—like Mr. Fancy Pants—fear social media because you think you can’t measure it, I say, Feh! You most certainly can. The only reason why there’s so much squabbling over the measurability of social media campaigns (vs. that of SEO/SEM) is that most of you boneheads are still struggling to understand what the heck social media is let alone how it can help your brand.

Whiny, frightened Brand X says, “But what if they write something bad about me?”

Yeah, what if? Sticks and stones may break your bones…

Or in other words, get over it. They will write something bad about you, because you can’t possibly please everybody. And you’re not perfect. Put on your big girl panties, then get educated about how to make social media work for you.

As for measurability: it ain’t rocket science:

Set your objectives. Pick the metric(s) you feel are most relevant to those objectives. Benchmark against yourself (and/or your competitors) over time. Measure. Analyze results. Repeat!

The Genius will now take your comments…