Found Results
May 2008 Archive
The following posts were made in May 2008. You may subscribe to the RSS feed for this archive if you would like to take your time reading through our posts.
Subscribe to the results feed
Posted on May 15, 2008
Set and Forget PPC (AKA Burning Your Cash) - 7 Ways to Stop the Burn
BY BEN CASTELLI
Cruise control was a great idea for cars, auto pilot is perfect for planes, but in terms of pay per click advertising there is no such thing as "set and forget". A lot of companies waste their money (and Google makes a lot of money) from pay per click campaigns that are not regularly optimized. Checking up on your PPC campaigns several times a week is essential and tackling some ongoing weekly action items will really stretch that budget dollar and improve ROI. Where do you start? Below is a list of 7 digestible weekly to-dos:
Share this blog post
Posted on May 14, 2008
Tips on Merging Social Media with Tried and True Practices to Promote Your Business
BY INGRID GETZAN
You've just spent the last week learning everything you can about building your Facebook page. Your last blog post generated 27 comments. You've spent hours reading competitor blogs and commenting on the personal blogs you follow. You have been Twittering like a pro. You have tried to immerse yourself in every pertinent online conversation you can find.
In the meantime, you've forgotten to send out your overdue email newsletter and implement the list building tactics you just read about. You haven't updated the survey on your site and your inbox has 42 new messages you haven't answered.
It's easy to lose yourself in Facebook applications or spend the day searching blogs to see who you can add on Twitter, but amidst all the new social media opportunities, don't forget about the tried and true tactics that worked to promote your business initially. More importantly, don't forget to leverage your new social media skills to continue building your business the old way.
Here are a few tips for a happy marriage between old internet marketing and new opportunities:
Share this blog post
Posted on May 11, 2008
Why Do You Want To Be Transparant, and How That Will Help Your Business Grow
BY STEPAN MAZUROV
If you are an ecommerce business, word of mouth marketing can help you grow it beyond the boundaries of your niche. Gary Vayerchuk, a guy in wine business, said something very interesting on Tues, May 6th show CNBC's Big Idea:
- Be who you are, be as transparent as possible.
- Don't play in your own playground, be active in communities that might find what you offer attractive.
- It is imperative to be involved in the social networks on the Internet and the real world
- We live in a world where every person's word of mouth reaches a lot more people.
Lets look at some examples of these at work.
Share this blog post
Posted on May 9, 2008
Social Media for Staying in Front of a Public Relations Crisis
BY JASON CORMIER
Yesterday, James Clark and I had the pleasure of giving an "Understanding Social Media" presentation to the Colorado Ski Country Association. Roughly 95% of the PR and marketing communications experts for every ski mountain in Colorado were attending, eager to learn more about how they could leverage this thing called social media.
The topics we covered varied from social media planning, understanding RSS, best practices for community participation and the use of new and emerging tools like Twitter. Despite the groovy buzz around social media, one of the main subjects of concern with our audience dealt with how and when to engage in online conversations.
The typical problem relates to negative activity that gets
picked up by the press. Something happens on the ski slopes related to
closures, injury, even death, and before you know it the cameras are rolling
and the phone is ringing off the hook. As a matter of practice, a marketing
communications person is often reactive - bracing for the media onslaught and
how his response will ultimately reflect on the operation, competency, brand,
etc.
One marketer brought up the fact that a few people will get an idea in their head about why a lift line or portion of the mountain is closed, and just commence to slam the people and organization running operations for the mountain. The bashing shows up on blog posts, forums, tweets, you name it.
Staying ahead of negativity and crisis is typically not about avoiding it all together. More realistically, it's about you and your organization not getting buried and completely swept down the mountain as the slide begins and gains momentum. Not much you can do to stop the slide once it starts, but your preparation and ability to quickly react makes all the difference.
Share this blog post
Posted on May 7, 2008
Vonage Lays Down the Astroturf - Internet Patrol Pulls Comment Spam Punk Card
BY JAMES CLARK
Anne Mitchell at Internet Patrol pulls Vonage's blog comment spamming punk card.
So yet again another company that can't resist the urge to go into blog comments without a thoughtful and authentic approach. Comment spamming is considered pure vile, so building on my "Resist The Temptation of Astroturfing Post", I'd like to offer some very straight forward ways to avoid this kind of mess that Mr. Kariolis has gotten Vonage into.
As you can see in Anne's links she points out Mr. Kariolis posted the exact same comments on Internet Patrol and DownloadSquad.
Mr. Kariolis Astroturf Trail:
- Posting the Same Comment on Several Blogs. By definition and common sense, that's comment spamming.
- No Link in Comment Name. When leaving the comment on Internet Patrol, Mr. Kariolis did not provide any link indentifying him with a company, blog, etc. Most comments allow you to put in your name, and then ask for an associated URL. If you don't have a blog or company website then link to your LinkedIn profile.
- Disclosure. No where in his comments does he disclose that he is working for Vonage and can be a resource on this subject.
- Newbie. Okay, here's the deal. Bloggers know who their regular commenters are. They know them intimately, and when someone new posts, like Mr. Kariolis and is clearly posting URLs in the comment to drive traffic to their own site - it's no brainer red flag for comment spam. Case in point, if you look at Mr. Kariolis' post on DownloadSquad you will see that the link from his name goes to his profile. He posted his comment on May 7th and look at what day he became a member:
Three Simple Ways to Be Transparent and Authentic and Avoid Astroturfing
- Provide Full Disclosure in the Comment. Right up front Mr. Kariolis should state that he works for Vonage. This takes the edge off and let's you be transparent about what you're trying to communicate.
- Contact the Blogger Directly Via Email Rather Than Leave a Comment Post. Mr. Kariolis could have emailed Anne directly stating clearly that he is with Vonage and appreciates her post, and provide a response. In the email state clearly that he is not a regular commenter, but does have a point of view on the story that he would like Anne to consider. Then it's up to Anne to update to her post with new insights, or she may even ask Mr. Kariolis to post his views in the comments area but to clearly call out that he is representing views from Vonage.
- Be a Participant Before Hand. This takes planning, time and dedication. So if Vonage is serious about engaging in the online conversation about VOIP, they should have individuals that are active in the conversational community on an ongoing basis, so when an opportunity to discuss a competitor's news arises, they are not setting up new profiles on the same day they are commenting on it.
Share this blog post
