Treat Twitter as a Brand Communication Channel

I know Twitter can seem daunting. Tweeters can be caustic about your brand in 140 characters; for companies, responding appropriately in such a small space is challenging. But connecting with these influential customers on an individual basis is a key word-of-mouth opportunity. Once you’ve secured an account for your brand and started listening, you should:

• Engage brand supporters and detractors early and often. Nothing is more powerful than reaching a customer at a crossroads with your product and making her happy. If you monitor people’s tweets about your brand, you’re able to respond quickly to them — and help solve their problems. This works with brand fans as well; brand feedback inspires them to spread their enthusiasm further.

• Provide brand content participants want to share. Use tweets to serve up content that’s timely, exclusive, and spreadable. Promotions, early product previews, and contests all make tweets happen. How to track success? Count how often you’re re-tweeted.

• Manage your brand on Twitter with dedicated staff. Twitter needs to be part of somebody’s job, not just a hobby; if you respond sporadically, that sends a worse message than being absent altogether. You need staff to listen, respond, and analyze your brand mentions. The most successful companies on Twitter have teams in place to evaluate how followers interact with them, what processes they need, and what insights should influence their marketing strategy — and to gain intelligence from what’s said about the brand overall.

• Promote your Twitter presence. While your Web site is your brand’s digital hub, the most likely tweeters are people who turn to social applications regularly. We recommend promoting your Twitter account on social network pages, communities, and blogs. By tapping into a group of social consumers first, you can make your tweets more visible. For example, Best Buy promotes its “Twelpforce” of Twitter helpers on TV and the Web, and shows its full stream of support tweets on twitter.com/twelpforce and its own site.

• Understand what tweets work. Observe what people re-tweet about your brand and how they respond to what you say. Because your goal is to engage people on Twitter, identifying which tweets resonate will help you build your presence quickly.

The success of social media campaigns

The success of social media campaigns, and utilization in general, does not, in any way, rely on some magical formula or any secret ingredients we might need to acquire from the belated witches of Salem! Yet, it is a careful mixture of simple and valuable elements which need to be present before, through and after the implementation of any social media campaign. Some elements could be very obvious, while others need some research and attention to be achieved.

• Make sure that you apply smart integration with the “right” social media channels that suit your brand image, the product/service you are trying to promote and its value. Not every social media channel will bring about the positive feedback you are waiting for!
• Take time to choose the team who will be in charge of executing your social media plan. It is not about the quantity, it is about the quality, remember that! Experience and already established online PR agents or staff members will be of a higher value to your campaign in comparison with anyone with a lot of free time to waste!
• Again, content is king! It is a must to make sure that your social media campaign’s content is not offensive, biased or easily misinterpreted. This could be easily used against you!
• Just as it is important to know your target market online, learning more about your online target audience is very important! This will not only help you know where to find them, it will also guide you in designing the campaign that will intrigue them and lead them to take actions!
• You are under the microscope; play nice! Always be aware that once your social media campaign has hit the hot topics’ list, you are now being watched. Try to be continuously involved in any conversations, posts, chats and/or forums taking place regarding your product, service or campaign.
• Be innovative and try not to imitate whenever possible. You might use the same social media channels others are utilizing but try making your benefit and reward systems varied. Your audience is not always looking to get a free coffee!
• Constantly measure the depth of your social media campaign’s fulfillment of goals and returns. The ROI should always be bigger, or at least equal to, the invested money, time, effort and resources that you are putting in the project.
• Put effort into making the overall social media campaign’s experience fun, engaging and proactive. Adding games, puzzles and teasers can be very addictive!

In a nut shell, though it might be tricky to implement each of the above steps within the right time frame, remember something: impossible is nothing!

Engage Youth Online With Social Interactivity

Youth between the ages of 18 and 35 — are a unique group of consumers. They tend to be socially fluid and highly connected, emotionally searching for their identities, and mentally fickle and creative. How can you engage these youngsters online? By applying four design approaches: social interactivity, immediacy, literacy, and individualism.

Provide the ability to communicate with others. To youth, media and content aren't resources for passive consumption. They're pieces of sharable conversations. Enabling communication and content sharing encourages youth to include content from sites in their online conversations.

Offer tools for self-expression. Youth aren't satisfied just consuming content. They want to create their own. Companies need to find ways to embrace these users' creativity and satisfy their need for self-expression.

For most companies and brands, it doesn't make sense to try to redesign an entire site to provide better youth experiences. Instead, customer experience professionals need to identify the most likely activities that youth will be doing on their sites. How can they do this? Execute a simple survey asking people what they're trying to do on the site, and then look at the responses. With more sophisticated analytics, you can also identify the most frequent paths these young users take.

Firms looking to engage younger users with social interactivity should ask two simple questions about the experiences on their sites: 1) Does it provide the ability to communicate with others? and 2) Does it offer tools for self-expression? By asking these two questions in the context of relevant user goals, brands can identify places to increase social interactivity. You can then draw on the best practices of other firms and other industries to take advantage of the opportunities.

Factors to get higher Page Ranks

In the past few days I have been interviewing lots of candidates from Search Marketing agencies as well as the potential candidates responsible for managing digital clients and providing Client Servicing and Account Management. Whenever I ask a question on Page Rank and what are the factors that determine higher page ranks I get different answers. I thought this post would help us to put some of those criteria's and thoughts in place.

Ranking plays such a large part in search engine optimization. Let’s look at just what affects ranking. Keep in mind, however, that different search engines use different ranking criteria, so the importance each of these elements plays will vary.



Location: Location doesn’t refer here to the location (as in the URL) of a web page. Instead, it refers to the location of key words and phrases on a web page. So, for example, if a user searches for “puppies,” some search engines will rank the results according to where on the page the word “puppies” appears. Obviously, the higher the word appears on the page, the higher the rank might be. So a web site that contains the word “puppies” in the title tag will likely appear higher than a web site that is about puppies but does not contain the word in the title tag. What this means is that a web site that’s not designed with SEO in mind will likely not rank where you would expect it to rank. The site www.puppies.com is a good example of this. In a Google search, it appears ranked fifth rather than first, potentially because it does not contain the key word in the title tag.



Frequency: The frequency with which the search term appears on the page may also affect how a page is ranked in search results. So, for example, on a page about puppies, one that uses the word five times might be ranked higher than one that uses the word only two or three times. When word frequency became a factor, some web site designers began using hidden words hundreds of times on pages, trying to artificially boost their page rankings. Most search engines now recognize this as keyword spamming and ignore or even refuse to list pages that use this technique.



Links: One of the more recent ranking factors is the type and number of links on a web page. Links that come into the site, links that lead out of the site, and links within the site are all taken into consideration. It would follow, then, that the more links you have on your page or leading to your page the higher your rank would be, right? Again, it doesn’t necessarily work that way. More accurately, the number of relevant links coming into your page, versus the number of relevant links within the page, versus the number of relevant links leading off the page will have a bearing on the rank that your page gets in the search results.



Click-throughs: One last element that might determine how your site ranks against others in a search is the number of click-throughs your site has versus click-throughs for other pages that are shown in page rankings. Because the search engine cannot monitor site traffic for every site on the Web, some monitor the number of clicks each search result receives. The rankings may then be repositioned in a future search, based on this interaction with the users.

Page ranking is a very precise science. And it differs from search engine to search engine. To create the best possible SEO for your site, it’s necessary to understand how these page rankings are made for the search engines you plan to target. Those factors can then be taken into consideration and used to your advantage when it’s time to create, change, or update the web site that you want to optimize.

Difference between WebConferencing and WebCasting

I have been using both Web conferencing as well as Webcasting for a long time now. But, sometimes when clients ask me what to use for some of thier events or a promotion of a product to a particular audience, they are confused. So I tought of putting up the comparoison and also the right usage both for Web conferencing and Web Casting. Hope you find it useful to make the decisions in the future on what to use.

Both Web conferencing and Webcasting eliminate travel costs, increase productivity, and allow people in geographically dispersed areas to meet or hear presentations in real time. They both are used for sales and marketing, communications, and online learning. Vendors in both markets continue to enrich the conferencing experience with video, search, and more user control. Sometimes this means the differences between the two conferencing tools tend to blur.

However, the two types of media conferencing have different purposes and involve different technologies for communicating information. Webcasting is a video and audio streaming presentation tool for events, while Web conferencing is a collaborative tool for interactive meetings. In five years, these technologies will converge, but this will happen only after the existing distribution and network issues are solved. In the meantime, resellers will offer both solutions as two different lines of business. If a decision seems difficult to make, the cost may be the deciding factor.

From a functionality perspective, Web Conferencing involves:

Information sharing. The presentation material typically involves slides, but spreadsheets and word processing documents are also common. The meeting leader may share the desktop or application with globally distributed participants (e.g., to demonstrate software, design products, or review creative material).

Live audio. The audio may be the traditional circuit transmission of Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) or Voice over IP (VoIP), which sends voice data in packets using IP with the Internet as the transmission medium — but either way, full duplex audio is key to the communication process. One clear advantage of VoIP is that calls do not incur a cost beyond paying for Internet access — just as users don't pay for sending individual emails.

Real-time polling and quizzes. A presenter can get a sense of the audience's background and opinions or the quality of the experience they are having in the session through polling or asking multiple-choice questions. Web conferencing products have out-of-the-box functionality that allows polling results to be shared with participants in graphical format.

Archiving. Web conferencing products record audio and synch the recording with the slides, allowing replay from the Web server. Users can control the slide movement to hear certain sections again or skip over others.

Webcasting Delivers Live Or Taped Video Events Over The Internet:

A one-to-many stream of video and audio. High-quality video with or without data slides is central to the presentation. One difference between Webcasting and Web conferencing is the use of streamed audio and video. Since most users don't have fast enough access to download large multimedia files, the client browser or plug-in can start displaying the data before the entire file has been transmitted. Conversely, if data comes more quickly than required, the excess data is saved in a buffer. If data doesn't download quickly enough, the presentation will not be smooth.

Audiences that range from 50 to 5,000. Viewers listen and watch the live or on-demand presentation through their computer speakers. They do not expect to interact online, although in some Webcasts, they may submit questions through a chat feature.

Availability of other media and additional services. A slide presentation may accompany the video and appear in a separate panel on the participant's computer screen. Depending on the Webcaster and the functionality chosen for the event, the viewer may also see the agenda, send text questions, or move to a Web site and access other material by using navigation tabs.

Recordings. A live Webcast generally is recorded for an on-demand audience that typically is larger than the live audience, which accesses the replay at a convenient later date. Some Webcasts are produced only for on-demand access from a Web site.

Media players. Webcasting uses standard technology and software that is easily accessible or already on most computers. Participants need a media player such as QuickTime, RealPlayer, or Windows Media Player; a Web browser with an Internet connection of 56K or above; and Macromedia Flash Player.

As vendors in these two conferencing markets grow their offerings, customers must understand their specific requirements to make the best purchase decision. Here are some guidelines based on use cases. In these situations, the users want:

To see the participants when having a small group discussion. The focus on documents means that Web conferencing is most appropriate for this situation, along with Webcams mounted on participants' computers or installed in the conference room. Some vendors like Raindance Communications have the "follow me" feature — whoever is speaking appears in the video section of the screen. With Web conferencing, video quality is generally poor but viewers do get some sense of who the speaker is.

The speaker to use slides and take questions at the end. If you want to see the speaker on TV interspersed with slides and the group size is more than 50, a Webcast is most appropriate. However, if a still picture of the speaker with his/her voice over the slides will suffice, use Web conferencing instead. Both formats can incorporate text or telephone Q&A at the end and allow recorded playback. The extent of playback interactivity varies with the provider but is usually more extensive with a Webcast than with Web conferencing.

To close the sale on a new product by showing results of a study. The focus is on data with supporting visuals and discussion among a small group. Web conferencing will work well with the presenter highlighting sections of data with markup tools.

A charismatic presenter who will interact with a panel. The focus is on communicating with the participants, which suggests a Webcast. High-quality video is important if there are no slides and people are the center of the event.

To depose witnesses over the Web. When law firms conduct depositions, which are witnesses' sworn testimonies outside of court, they need high security and often good quality video. Either a Webcasting or Web conferencing provider with demonstrated strong security can provide this service. If broadcast-quality video is essential, a secure Webcaster may be the best choice.

Web Conferencing Tools

Recently while working for a client, they asked me to suggest them a Webconferencing tool and also build a strategy on how to really put the tool into the use within the organization. I started doing a lot of research on what are the tools available in the market. I am now sharing those tools we can use and also a brief synsopsis on each one of them.

Adobe Connect Pro. Adobe offers a hosted and an on-premises solution with the same host and participant experience. The product has the standard pre-meeting, in-meeting, post-meeting features, but it adds learning features. The meeting-centric product handles 100 participants, and the Web event product scales up to 1,500 participants. Adobe offers per-host, per-port (simultaneous participant), or per-minute pricing with the opportunity to prebuy blocks of minutes.

Cisco WebEx. WebEx was one of the early and most popular Web conferencing vendors, particularly for sales activities. WebEx is a hosted solution only, but Cisco has added a router add-in so that firms can keep internal conferencing traffic inside the corporate network to enhance security and save on roundtrip bandwidth. Cisco's Meeting Center can handle 500 participants, its Training Center supports 1,000 participants, and its Event module can scale to 3,000 participants. Cisco offers per-host, per-port (simultaneous participant), per-minute, or per-use pricing.

IBM LotusLive. IBM offers a hosted solution through its acquisition of WebDialogs that focuses on external meetings and Web events. The product has meeting capacity for 1,000 participants. Participants do not have a download, but the host must have a Microsoft Windows plug-in to use the application-sharing feature. The product provides the most common pre-, in-, and post-meeting features including Web touring and live video. Pricing is a per-host model.

IBM Lotus Sametime. Sametime is IBM's real-time collaboration tool kit, which includes presence, instant messaging, voice integration, video, and Web conferencing. The solution is targeted at internal meetings with support for up to 250 participants. Sametime clients are available for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux. The pricing model is per user with a perpetual license.

Microsoft Live Meeting. This hosted Web conferencing offering of Microsoft is sold through Microsoft Online Services or from partners. The solution provides pre-, in-, and post meeting features, as well as some learning features like breakout rooms, testing, and material distribution. The offering supports 1,250 participants, which allows use in small meetings, Webinars, and large events. Microsoft offers a per-user model with no charge to participants joining from outside the organization. It also has a per-minute pricing model.

Microsoft Office Communications Server. Microsoft's on-premises Web conferencing solution is part of its real-time collaboration platform. The "RC2" version of this product, when linked to the Office Communicator client, offers participant video, application-sharing, and the traditional features. While the product is typically used for internal meetings, it does allow external participants to join. The offering supports 250 participants. The pricing model is per user for internal users, though external participants can join at no cost.

Hope you find this information useful in case you are also considering to implement one Webconferencing tool in your company.

In my next blog I will now touch base on some of the strategies we should look into to make the use of Web Conferencing tool as well as the implementation within the organization successful.

Should we pay bloggers to talk about our brand?

Well, the answer is YES.

Nokia sent out there phones for the review last year and asked the bloggers to review and give their feedback. The phones got a huge response, and most of the bloggers appreciated Nokia's effort of being transparent and authentic in sharing the information with the consumers. Kmart gave some bloggers a free shopping spree in exchange for a blog post about the experience — a practice which is called sponsored conversation. With appropriate protections for disclosure and authenticity, this practice will take its place alongside public relations and advertising activities in the blogosphere. Marketers should take advantage of sponsored conversation as an entrée into the online conversation. To succeed, you should get to know the bloggers you plan to work with and set expectations across your organization.

Marketers already try to influence bloggers through public relations activity. They also pay for ads on blogs. Seen in this context, sponsored conversations are an extension of existing activities. As long as bloggers don't hide who's paying them and have freedom to write whatever they want, I think paying bloggers for the conversation about your brand will fit in well with the other forms of marketing through blogs.

Marketers buy ad space on popular blogs like TechCrunch and Huffington Post just as they would on any other site; Intel recently worked with blog ad network Federated Media to have 100% of the ads on a gaming blog created by Boing Boing's bloggers. Best Buy went further, working with Six Apart's blog network to deliver not just ad units but a sponsored question-of-the-day that inspired bloggers to respond to in their personal blogs.

Ford recently offered Jessica Smith of Jessica Knows a Ford Flex car for one year; she now blogs about her family's experience with the car and participates in Ford events. (View Source)

Why and How to Pay bloggers to start the conversations:

The blogosphere can be a powerful marketing channel — even consumer bloggers know they have more influence than their peers. That's why you should start now to recruit bloggers who will act as brand ambassadors for your brand. Working with bloggers is:

Cheap and scalable. Kmart worked with Izea, a company that manages the process of reaching out to bloggers for paid conversation. The payment to each blogger was only $500 in shopping credit.

Far-reaching. The number of people reading blogs alone has grown by 50% in the past year and now one in three Indians online are doing so at least once a month.

Great for search engine optimization. Because blogs generate links and change frequently, they rank high in organic search results.

Persuasive. Blogs represent relationships with communities of readers. Through blogs, marketers can listen to, talk to, energize, and support potential fans and new customers.

How To Do Paid Conversations Effectively

The rewards of paid conversations are promising, but there are risks as well, including brand backlash if you conceal your relationship with bloggers. To participate effectively:

Mandate disclosure. Require that any sponsored content includes disclosure of the paid sponsorship and that any sponsorship network you work with has similar requirements.

Ensure freedom of authenticity. It's tough to let go, but it's best to let bloggers you work with write whatever they feel is appropriate, rather than trying to coerce them to write positively about your brand.

Partner with popular blogs that are relevant to your brand. Relevance and context are the keys to working with bloggers. Behind every blogger there is a person, and each person is different. Some will work with marketers, and some won't. Some are personal, and some are professional.

Don't talk and then walk away. Your relationships with bloggers should be a long-term commitment used to listen to feedback to help improve marketing in other channels such as advertising, public relations, merchandizing, and CRM.