How the 4Cs model of social business highlights ways to create shared value
In my previous post I asked whether businesses are ready for social business and looked at 10 pitfalls of using social media which suggested many may not be. For those who are becoming proficient in using social media, understanding progression to social business is the next logical step. This begs the ‘what is social business?’ question. In this post I will look at the scope and applications of social business so that you can review how much progress your own organisation has made onto becoming a social business?
What Is Social Business?
So what does the term social business actually mean? Another buzz word coined by highly paid management consultants or a fundamental change in the modus operandi of your organisation, critical to future growth and competitiveness?
In simple terms, a social…
Why marketers aren’t giving social media marketing the credit it deserves
Despite how important social media has become to marketers, Adobe are suggesting that it still isn’t being recognized for driving website traffic, engagement and conversions like it should be. The solution, Adobe suggest, might be as simple as making adjustments to how its contributions are captured and measured. In short, some attribution modelling might help you see social media marketing in a whole new light.
Remember that you don't need a paid service like Adobe Sitecatalyst to apply attribution thinking; you can demonstrate the value of social media marketing through Google's new Social Reports (tutorial) which helps show assisted conversions influenced by social media.
Because social marketing is still so new, and let's not forget that, best practices for measuring the effectiveness of social efforts are still evolving. We've written before about ROI of social media, the IAB also developed…
Smoothing the way to digital enlightenment
Working in digital marketing is without doubt one of the most rewarding ways in which you can spend your days. The rate at which new products and services are churned out means that apart from having to spend a large part of your working week just keeping up, the new and emerging trends and strategies mean you can never rest on your laurels.
That being said working as a freelancer in digital marketing doesn’t come without its share of problems, after all why should we be any different from the rest of the world. Simply getting across the importance of an online strategy is the start of the journey with any new client and following a process that makes it easy for others can be a challenge, but one that’s ultimately worth taking.
A rocky road
In my…
The answer depends on your perspective...
We know that the Olympics has been a raving success on so many levels, more so than many of us imagined. So, almost a week after the main event (the Paralympics are still to come), I wondered about the digital success story - what were the take-aways from the London 2012 Olympics for marketers, that we can learn and share on Smart Insights?
I came across this wrap-up from the Head of New Media at London 2012, Alex Balfour. You can see the Slideshare presentation embedded here…
London 2012.com olympic games digital round up 13 august 2012 from Alex Balfour
What can digital marketers learn from London 2012?
The data from London 2012 appears…
An introduction to the 6 new Social Reports in Google Analytics
In my previous post I wrote about the increasing importance of social media with SEO. In this follow-up I'll show how Google Analytics can be used to assess how effective you are in generating social signals through an engaged audience.
Using Google Analytics social reports to measure impact
Google Analytics introduced a new Social report suite in March 2012. This makes it much easier to evaluate the contribution of traffic from social media domains and sharing of content from your site on social networks.
When it was first announced it was known as "Social Analytics" (see Dave Chaffey's introduction to 10 features) and had its own menu option. Now the Social report is integrated in the Traffic Sources report, available by selecting "Social". There are 6 reports available which I will explain. If you haven't used them, I recommend it, it certainly…
Practical actions to reach your audience and generate leads from social media
Have you heard of “social media fatigue”? It refers to a growing backlash against social media. As Facebook and Twitter users get inundated with incessant sales messages, increasing numbers are either un-following and un-fanning business pages, or worse, they are quitting social media altogether.
But don’t let this scare you off from running your social media activities. What works in your favour is the fact that many businesses don’t understand how social media works. Follow the following simple rules, and you’ll stand out from all the spam and sales messages:
Remember what social media was originally intended for. Its purpose was to create online communities where people with common interests could share ideas, information and chat to each other. It was never meant to be an advertising billboard. People…
A visual of the multichannel universe
Many activities are needed to succeed in multichannel marketing. Whether you work for a company or for an agency, you need to communicate to colleagues or clients what is needed for success. I found the Twiss Universe visual an interesting way of showing what's needed to develop multichannel strategies, so thought I'd share it so you can compare it to your approaches.
Twiss say:
"Our Map of the "Universe" provides an overview of available mediums, technologies and services that comprise Multi-Channel marketing as a whole. Every brand has its own footprint of involvement, large or small".
(Click to Expand)
I like the emphasis that the visual puts on measurement, testing and customer research and coverage of the main "carbon" and "electronic" tools.
It's not so strong on process, for that I recommend Dan's "Marketing Wheel" infographic.…
Localisation – much more than just translation
In the previous post in this series, I looked at the opportunities for growth from international markets. Now that you have identified that you want to expand internationally, you’ve got your budget approved, but what about all that web and printed content that you now need to translate? Well, the good news is that you are not ready to think about translating anything just yet. Before you do so, you will need to consult with other stakeholders in the business and where possible, existing and potential customers to identify what your strategic objectives are.
There are a lot of issues to consider that need to go into your plan:
[caption id="attachment_16312" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Localisation project activities[/caption]
High-level questions you should collectively be asking yourselves at this stage include:
What are our competitors doing and to whom are…
Differentiation vs Amplification
We shared Seth Godin's Circles of Marketing blog post a couple of weeks ago, it captured our attention because of the simplicity of the message, the focus on the fundamentals, Seth's always good at that.
The marketing paradox
We believe that Seth has described something of a modern marketing paradox, and we wanted to illustrate it step further than he has. We believe that the marketing paradox that we face is Differentiation and Longevity vs Amplification and Speed. Does the marketer seek genuine differentiation or does he or she chase an opportunity to measurably amplify the brand? The latter is realistically faster, it's what's expected, and just maybe you get a bit of luck or already have a great product, in which case amplification can then work for sure. Yet the inner rings are defensible, considered, harder and longer lasting. They're also the base to upon which you can amplify…
Research shows the continued importance of direct marketing in the marketing mix
With our focus on digital media, it’s easy to forget that traditional marketing communications are still widely used and important drivers of leads and sales. This new research has shown that
“Almost a quarter (23%) of overall turnover (sales) can be attributed to direct marketing”
This is based on research from DMA who are are naturally keen to make the point about the ongoing importance of direct marketing in its latest forms. In their recent research completed by the Future Foundation on direct marketing effectiveness in the UK ,600 companies were surveyed including 453 detailed interviews with companies involved in direct marketing.
It’s interesting to look at the range of options available from what can be considered direct marketing and we can learn from the most popular since this suggests what is most effective today. If we look at the four most popular…
