Digital Strategy Archive

Using social media data for marketing is not “big news” anymore for most marketers. However, are you sure you are taking full advantage of the data you’ve collected?

During a webinar presented by Brandwatch a few weeks ago, we learned some insights about how social media data can let you know more about your audience and help you to optimize your marketing strategy.

Compared to traditional media, the biggest advantage of social media is that it enables marketers to have a conversation with their audience. They can listen to what their audience are talking about, and then send out a better brand message to them at the right time.

Understanding New Trends

Let’s start with the listening part. We all know that understanding market trends and recognizing the swing of momentum are essential for brands trying to develop new markets or create successful products. By collecting and analyzing social media data from your target audience, you will gain some insights about new trends in your industry.

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A few weeks ago, we were in California for our client’s event: ClickZ Live in San Francisco.

One of the best presentations I attended was a video Marketing 101 tips talk given by Greg Jarboe, President & Co-founder of SEO-PR.

In his session, Unlocking the secrets to mobile video marketing: from YouTube to Instagram, to Vine, Greg shared several tips and tricks for getting the most out of video on these popular social media platforms.

So how do you create a piece of video that is likely to succeed?

Here are some “keywords” Greg suggested you remember as you produce your videos:

Exhilaration

Greg considers this as the most important key to a successful video. “It doesn’t matter if your video features a cat or a baby, the point is to leave your audience with a feeling of exhilaration.” A great example of this would be the video campaign series created by GoPro Cameras.

The campaign started with hiring extreme athletes to show what they can do with GoPro cameras. It went so well that people started to shoot their own videos in hope of becoming the GoPro’s next star. Now GoPro has more than 2 million subscriptions on YouTube, and about 6,000 videos are posted on YouTube with the word GoPro in their titles or descriptions every single day.

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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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One thing I was most proud of during my time at Microsoft were the videos we created at Advertising Week and the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity.

For about four years I’d travel to these events with a plan to bring them alive for people (as my former boss Jenny Leahy used to put it) “outside the room.”

The videos were then used to promote our presence, be repurposed for other marketing activities and really expand the reach of Microsoft Advertising’s investment in those industry get-togethers.

Recently, the guys from Bing Ads asked me to create one for them. This time I did much of the filming and photography myself and we crowd sourced the rest of the content from other Microsoftees on the ground at the event.

The footage was then sent to my go-to video people >> Cherry Media << in the UK who we worked with in New York and Cannes.

And this was the resulting edit:

You do have to invest in good equipment and editing to create great video, but it doesn’t have to cost the earth. With experience you can start to pick up techniques and visualize how an end edit might look as your filming content at events.

Make sure you check back to the Delightful Blog in a couple of weeks when I’ll be giving some tips on what to look for when filming events for social media amplification.

Thanks for reading/watching!

Mel

Representing Majestic SEO in the US as their Brand Ambassador, I not only get to work with some of the smartest minds in internet technology, big data extraction and actionable analytics, but I get to keep my hand in one of the oldest disciplines that exists in web marketing.

SEO (or Search Engine Optimization if you have stumbled upon this post in error but are still reading) has brought to my professional career some of the best conversations and most endearing relationships I’ve ever had. So when the chaps at the SEO software company, Linkdex, asked to interview me for an eBook on the state of SEO right now, I leapt at the chance to express some of my thoughts on where we are with SEO and what I’ve learned from those conversations and relationships, and what I’ve picked up over the last 18 months through client interaction at Delightful Communications.

You’ll hear not just from me, but read wisdom from people like Danny Sullivan, Bruce Clay, Marty Weintraub, Dixon Jones, Andrew Girdwood, Cedric Chambaz, Eric Enge, Marcus Tandler, Sara Clifton, Rhea Drysdale, Josh Braaten and Aleyda Solis to name but a few.

It maybe 300 plus pages but the insight you’ll glean from its pages will carry your understanding and effectively equip you to navigate SEO for the next 300 years (well almost).

Download the SEO NOW eBook……….NOW!

Spotted this from Gal Borenstein on The Hub Comms where, ahem, I write an article every couple of weeks.

Sums up a few of the ways I’ve been persuading CEOs and senior executives they need to be thinking.

It pains me when I get pushback from exec comms people who say, “he or she just doesn’t have time”!

We all make time to listen and learn and, in my opinion, industry leaders need to lead this understanding from the front.

Relying on trusted advisors is ok for detail, but not understanding the general landscape or being oblivious to the latest trends in your industry is corporate suicide, when those trends change daily!

Following on from their hilarious “Ship My Pants” video that has generated over 20 million views this year, US retailer Kmart has released a Christmas version using characters from Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” who talk about shipping their trousers!

As you can see from the link map from Majestic SEO below, the original ad was very popular in the UK and Europe, and I expect this version will see a similar pattern!

Majestic SEO Heat Map – Click to Enlarge

Great stuff from a store I have always associated with Dustin Hoffman’s underwear!

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Played this stunning video in a presentation I did last week for AXA Wealth at a gathering of their partner independent financial advisors last week.

When trying to explain the power of digital and the necessity of businesses to really start infusing into every nook and cranny of their organisation, I often use extreme examples to provide an audience with inspiration.

I’m obviously not saying that the relationship between the IFA and consumer is as strained as that of India and Pakistan, but if you listen to some of the voice overs in the final minute, there are a number of keywords that mirror what consumers want from brands in this increasingly social and mobile age.

Take a look and let me know what the video says to you in the comments below.

Starbucks have launched a cool new way to gift a friend a skinny latte via Tweet a Coffee.

This morning, I’d just sparked up my laptop and logged on Twitter to find a very clever surprise from my friend Kelley Myers.

Kelley, who is a friend and former colleague from Microsoft who now works in digital marketing at Starbucks, is jolly generous (as well as smart), so I clicked on the link and kaboom:

To set it up and Tweet a Coffee, you have to connect your Starbucks account with your Twitter account and Tweet.

That’s it! Genius?

Love how more people are getting creative with Twitter.

What will we see next? Tweet a Pizza? Tweet a Hug? Tweet a Beer?

Might have to put a bigger order in for some of those Twitter shares!

Oh…..and thanks Kelley!

Next week is my birthday and I’ll be spending 4 nights in Las Vegas at Pubcon too!

This must be about the 6th Pubcon conference I have attended and I’ll be there with Dixon Jones and the guys from MajesticSEO.

Brett Tabke, who founded the conference way back when, has kindly asked me to speak at a session on Thursday about online brand management. I’ll be focusing on digital PR and social media tactics and weaving a little bit about search too!.

They’re also letting me sign some of books with Barnes and Noble as well, so I’ll have an action-packed week.

If you’re going to be in sin city, drop by and say hello.

I’m looking forward to catching up with you all again!