July, 2014 Archive

We’re off to sunny San Francisco in a week or so for the ClickZ Live digital marketing conference!

I’ll be speaking on behalf of Majestic at a theatre session on Wednesday 13th August entitled: How to Use Link Data to Boost Your Social Media and PR Efforts

The premise behind my talk will be that Big Data has so much more potential than just being a buzzword, and I’ll provide a smorgasbord of ideas and case studies that will show the audience how to quickly and easily get ahead of the competition with a little bit of lateral thinking across the disciplines of social media and digital PR.

Immediately after that I’ll take the stage with the fabulous Katherine Griwert from Brafton on: Scaling Engagement: How to Drive Results with an Efficient Content & Social Strategy

Here’s the blurb on that session:

If you’re interested in engaging customers online, you’re probably already posting content on social media. Even though the average company uses 6 social networks for marketing, they’re largely “unsure” about the results. So how do you know what to post, and when, and where, if you want social ROI that really matters? A multi-channel content approach sounds like a lot, but a smart strategy has built-in opportunities to engage prospects and influencers. In this session, led by content marketer Katherine Griwert and Digital PR specialist Mel Carson, we’ll walk you through tips and tactics on strategic content for social.

You’ll learn answers to common challenges, including:

• How to tap into social conversations to create engagement-focused content
• How to carry one content asset across your social pages for maximum ROI
• What types of unique headlines, hashtags and interactions work on leading networks
• How to get the right influencers to share your brand’s message for better engagement and reach
• Simple ways to measure success so you can make intelligent, efficient content choices

Brafton were kind enough to interview me a couple of months back on personal branding strategies and I’m thrilled to be working with them on delivering a top-notch session for the ClickZ Live audience in San Francisco.

Hope to see many of you in California for this fabulous event.

If you won’t make it, we’ll be sure to post the presentations on SlideShare soon.

Cheers,

Mel

Every marketer knows that “people are powerful distribution channels for your brand message”, said Jon Dick a couple of weeks ago during a wonderful webinar we watched here at Delightful.

However, the question this poses, he went on to say, is: How can you get people to talk about your brand?

The webinar organized by Klout and Simply Measured answered this question for us by introducing how to successfully manage an influencer program for your brand. Featuring Jon Dick from Klout, Uri Bar Joseph from Simply Measured and blogger and digital marketing influencer Jess Estrada, the webinar showed how to identify, engage, and measure the success of relationships with influencers.

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For the second year running I’ve been asked to judge the US Search Awards which had it’s baptism of fire to much acclaim in Vegas last year at an event few will ever forget.

It’s always a pleasure and eye-opener to see what great work brands and agencies have been up to over the last year and I’m sure 2014’s will be bigger and better.

The entries close this Friday 18th, so get applying here: US Search Awards!

One top tip to bear in mind if you’re applying is: Don’t rush your application and follow the instructions.

It amazes me how some marketing managers charged with submitting their company entry do so in a haphazard way. You have to remember that, as judges, we’re often looking at hundreds of entries, so don’t make yours easy to dismiss on account of its sparseness or lack of signposts that you understand the category and have aligned your success closely to it.

Hoping to see many of you at Pubcon this year to celebrate that great event and the winners of the US Search Awards 2014!

Get submitting those entries NOW!

Cheers,

Mel

I’ve not been to Cannes Lions for a couple of years now, but  I always keep up with what’s going on through these digestible snapshots of what went on on main stage via their YouTube channel.

Sir John Hegarty

In the below highlights from Day 6 last month, Sir John Hegarty from advertising agency BBH, talks brilliantly and hilariously about the (not so) new fad surrounding the obsession with “big data”.

Refering to advertising in particular he nails is by saying, “Data has always been important….it’s called consumer knowledge. The idea that this is going to be the solution to everything and it will give you the answer is BS.”

He continues that if everyone is looking at the same data, everyone will come to the same conclusions and they’ll all produce the same work.

“The idea of data is to take you to a point, and then you go now what do you think about it? What do you feel about it? It doesn’t have the answer. It just asks a set of questions…….call it what you like but it is just data.”

I’ve always felt the same way about the way people have talked about big data in the realms of digital marketing and PR. In our work with Majestic, the remit has always been to use the plethora of data they provide to ask just those questions. To use it to provide additional holes in a problem down which to travel and find a solution. Whether it be an issue with SEO, market intelligence or an opportunity to discover new opportunities to build relationships with writers and journalists.

Big data is not an end in itself as it doesn’t have all the answers. Businesses need to know how to slice and dice it to answer questions beyond the numbers. And those questions often involve asking your customers and potential customers how they feel, something the great Jim Sterne has always encouraged us to do.

When was the last time you got out from behind your analytics dashboard or scorecard and had a real life conversation with a customer?

Try it. You might be surprised by what you uncover and how it relates (or not) the the data you have.

Until next time,

Mel