Richard Pentin (of TMW) has done some sterling work by teaming up with the IAB Social Media Council to tackle the hottest digital marketing potato; measuring and benchmarking social media ROI. Well, more specifically measuring social media activity that in turn impacts ROI. Despite the very serious sounding name of the IABSMC, we feel that this provides some great thinking that in a framework could well help us all to formalise a way to manage, measure and compare social media performance. The SlideShare presentation talks through each step of the process from establishing your intent, assigning the most relevant KPIs around the 4 As "€“ Awareness, Appreciation, Action and Advocacy "€“ and references other benchmarks in order to draw meaningful comparisons. What do you think are it"€™s strengths and weaknesses? It would be great to hear your feedback and ideas.

A framework for…

Answer: I"€™m assuming your asking about engaging with Twitter +- Facebook +- Linked-In +- your own blog or community? Here are three dimensions for you to think about...

Be Relevant

You"€™re right that it"€™s the initial engagement which is so difficult, and this is the case for any channel. Start with your audience - what do they need? They"€™re pressed for time and likely looking for something - what purpose do they have on your web site or web service? You have to offer them something that"€™s value-add and ideally inspiring "€“ maybe something entertaining that makes them sit up and take notice, or something extremely useful that solves a problem or answers a question. So, what is it that your audience will value - research it, ask them and then deliver it in whatever format that makes the most sense. Equally, use parts of that content on other web sites where your…

I was recently putting the digital world to rights with digital marketing consultant James Gurd (James on Linked In, James on Twitter). We were talking about the ongoing need for straightforward advice on SEO for small and medium businesses who are new to SEO. We both felt there is still too much complexity and too many myths. James finds that when talking to clients that many still want to get to grips with SEO essentials so they can can focus their investment working with their SEO agency on advanced strategy. So I'm delighted that James has offered to share his approach to cutting through the complexity - I hope it provides useful frameworks and interesting reading for marketers grappling with the basic success factors for SEO and also for consultants and agencies grappling with explaining it. [caption id="attachment_2960" align="aligncenter" width="504" caption="A five step SEO Strategy framework"]…

It"€™s about customers

People who influence me, people like Brian Solis, Jay Baer, Seth Godin and Doc Searls suggest that social media is best suited to engaging customers, as typically it helps develop some form of emotional connection which makes it more likely customers will form a deeper relationship with a brand. It"€™s not that social media cannot help with new customer acquisition, far from it, it"€™s how you go about it.

Have a framework that informs strategic integration

There"€™s so much advice on social media tools and tactics that it"€™s sometimes difficult to see the big picture. Our new RACE framework defines a simplified, strategic approach to digital marketing, including social media within it as a key part of today"€™s marketing.

An Extra Dimension to RACE - Listen & Participate

RACE is similar in its approach to a Social CRM framework in that is can…

If you're like us, you love using Google Analytics for its ease of use and insights, but still, you will find yourself wasting time completing the same actions again-and-again as you review the performance of your site each day. Bookmarklets (check out other useful bookmarkets for digital marketers) provide a quick way to save time through shortcuts for these repeated actions. Here's my top 5 saving which allow you to go straight to the report you want even if you don't have GA loaded! They all work through a standard URL query string for each report .You will need to set them to the profile id you're currently working with otherwise you'll just see the first profile in the account. I've saved the best for last. 1. Show today's data By default you start with the previous day, but when customising Google Analytics you often need to check the latest data collected to…

Last month I gave four reasons why the status quo isn't good enough for your email marketing. One reason was growing email competition, so it seems sensible to review some of the things you can do to ensure it's your email that gets attention in the inbox. We'll start with the in-email factors (from line, subject line, preview pane and preheader) and then address out-of-email factors (which most people forget about).

The from line

We tend to focus on the subject line, but we also know that the name of the sender is at least as important in helping recipients decide whether an email is worth attention or not. (more…)…

Question: Our company is planning to out-source our SEO. We have lots of companies pitching, what are the major things we should be looking for from these agencies before we hire one? Answer: You will hear many similar promises or processes from SEO agencies so it can be difficult to tell them apart. Based on several SEO pitches I have run for clients and reviewing a lot of proposals talking to a lot of clients on SEO courses, here are 7 important questions that I would advise asking - it"€™s vital that you do all you can to find the best fit possible! Exactly how will they improve our results? Some SEOs may be unwilling to disclose techniques, but ethical techniques are well understood and documented and so an open relationship about SEO methods is essential. It will aid internal learning as well as ensure that you integrate better. Take an example…

Like many I've switched to Chrome as my main browser this year for the speed and stability. If you haven't made the switch yet, there's almost nothing to stop you now although I'm still missing the SEO Book plug-ins for Firefox, although SEO Quake is an adequate competitor.

I've found great interest in these new tools on my Advanced SEO course, so "due to popular demand" I've created a page of the ones I recommend.  I've started with the simplest ones which marketers on the course might use, onto the more advanced ones for the SEOs.

1. PageRank Status

A simple tool for showing Google PageRank.

2. Nofollow checker …

This is my slide deck for the 4th Annual Digital Marketing Conference which I've been pleased to talk at several times. There are 20 tips mainly around examples of increasing conversion through site design tweaks and the analytics to review these. I've also also a few search and email tips. Digital marketing tips and tricks : Dave Chaffey Smart Insights …

Question: A lot of your posts on SEO seem to be aimed at the expert, do you have something on the basics of SEO? Answer: That's a fair comment, we have written our 7 Steps guide to SEO for Expert members to be easy to follow for marketers less familiar with SEO.  Here's a round up of some of the best guides introducing the basics of SEO. 1. The Google SEO Starter Guide PDF Best to go straight to the Horses Mouth - this is a great intro with examples, although published in 2008 and not updated since. It underemphasises the importance of backlinks - links from other sites. Google also a short practical video to SEO for startups. 2. Google How It Works This is a great visual guide which I've started using when talking to non-search specialists in training - definitely not for SEOs... Nice visuals though. …