Who should be in your circle for the best quality advice?
Ever since Google+ burst onto the social media scene in July last year, the blogosphere has been awash with debate on the pros and cons of the new social network.
But what can’t be disputed is the calibre of digital experts publishing their latest thoughts Google+ and the amount of insight and expertise they offer up on a daily basis.
If you’re new to Google+ or just looking for some ideas on who to follow (or ‘Circle’, as it’s known on Google+), I think these are some of the best. The focus does tend to be on social media and search, so if you're looking for advice on more specific channel's see Dave Chaffey's post on the best marketers to learn from on Google+.
So here is my list of 10 great digital experts to get you started or check against your…
This new advice and tools for journalists could be useful for marketers and bloggers too
Value/Importance: [rating=3]
Recommended links:
Twitter for Newsrooms (Shows Grid Above)
Twitter for News
Twitter Media
Twitter announced new advice on the best approaches to communicate using Twitter on Friday.
The advice is intended for journalists, but we though we’d alert you to it, since some of the tools are relevant to companies or bloggers regularly communicating with their audience. After all, many companies effectively have their own journalists today as they compete with online newsrooms and publishers to engage their fans.
Some examples of the tools include greater interactivity on your site:
1. Embedded tweets - we're seeing more of these now - they're a good way to feature promotions or quotes within your site or landing page.
Here's an example -…
Over 44% of adults now using the web to share grievances
Value: [rating=4]
Recommended link: Social Media Leadership forum
This report examines the role played by social media within the rapidly changing landscape of customer service. It was commissioned by Natalie Cowen, Head of Brand and Communications, first direct and created by Dr Andrew Currah.
The report reminds us how important the web and social media in particular have become to brands. In the Exec Summary, Natalie Cowen says:
“Over 44% of adults now use the web to share grievances about products, with companies expected to interact with companies online and get a speedy response”
It seems that many companies haven't changed the way they manage customer service in line with this - Dan Bosomworth summarised a survey in the autumn last year suggesting that 95% of customer Facebook posts were ignored by brands.
We’re alerting you to this new report, since if…
7 techniques to drive website interactions that generate leads and how to measure them
We find that there's lots of discussion online about how to reach and convert audiences, but not so much about encouraging the softer interactions. We reference this as "Act" within the RACE framework, it's about encouraging interactions on site or within your social outpost. You can think of Act in the context of the Forrester Social Technographics Ladder, where you are encouraging those that are watching or “lurking” to contribute, to get involved. These are people most likely with a problem or question, maybe a passion for a topic area; your challenge is how you get them to contribute.
These are the tactics I'm talking about:
Blogs
Social networks integrations
Widgets, tools and objects
Community
Content
Gamification
Review and ratings
The whole idea is to design specific communications techniques that encourage interactions on your websites or social outposts, an area we feel is more often…
What does it take to win with E-Business?
We believe that the secret to growing E-Business results in your organization is to benchmark to find a better balance between enablers, readiness and performance.
Why are some organizations able to repeatedly deliver results while others struggle to keep up the pace (or never reach it)? We think that high performance E-Business organizations have several things in common but most notably, they are better at balancing E-Business enablers, readiness and performance while using benchmarking to identify improvement areas.
We've developed the E-Business Monitor for companies to benchmark where they are now and get actionable insights on where to improve.
Why other E-Business benchmarks fall short
The last decade has shown a tremendous growth of online channels. Now, organizations find themselves facing tough questions concerning the effectiveness of their E-Business (including digital marketing and E-commerce).
Key questions faced are:
How…
In this case study, we talk to Kate Webb, the Online Marketing Manager at Vision Express. Kate talks about how they have developed a strategy and manage social media marketing across the Vision Express teams. Thanks for sharing your experiences, Kate!
How big an impact has the increase in popularity of social media with consumers had on Vision Express?
It’s had quite an impact in terms of time and resource, especially in the early days.
As a company we’re relatively new to social media, we’ve only been active for just over eighteen months. We spent a lot of time during the first 3-6 months listening, watching and learning what consumers were saying about our brand/looking for from our brand, in order to decide on how we should communicate, and where – which platforms.
During this…
Do magic words exist or are they a copywriting myth?
I recently received a copywriting advice email from Yale University describing the ‘the most powerful words in the English Language’. Here they are:
1. You
2. Results
3. Health
4. Guarantee
5. Discover
6. Love
7. Proven
8. Safety
9. Save
10. New
Although I agree that these are powerful words, I doubt Yale really conducted any rigorous research – and if they did, it’s certainly not something that the University chooses to share on its official website.
What is interesting is how long these types of list have been "doing the rounds". It taps into the insatiable demand for instant solutions. Human nature finds the notion very appealing that all you need do is sprinkle a few magic words into your writing like fairy dust and, Hey Presto, an instant increase in sales pops out of the hat.
Using magic words in the right place in your copy and in the right order…
