And then I re-read the 2010 State of Community Management released last week and came across an interesting data point – Executives are overwhelmingly positive about social approaches with 59% perceived as either ‘cautiously optimistic’ or ‘enthusiastic’ about it. I have to ask myself, “optimistic and enthusiastic about what?” Certainly the evolution into a social business involves much more than an emotion, right?  It’s great that 67 percent of organizations are hiring community managers, but what are they able to do? Are they empowered to actually solve customer problems or are they just moderating comments?

So let’s recap this for a second.  We are living in an era where every celebrity is using Twitter, even the bad ones.  Every news organization, media company and anchor is using social media to report breaking news (Egypt, Iran, Japan, etc.) Most fortune 500 companies are using social media in one form or another; and yet, there are no formal policies for engagement?

A similar study by eMarketer gives me a little hope; it reported that 45 percent of companies in their study are creating and distributing policies internally regarding the use of social i.e. responding to negative/positive comments and general use of social media.

While the creation of social media guidelines is certainly a very small step to operationalize social media; there is much more to consider in building social – as a behavior — into the fabric of employees’ daily work responsibilities. This initiative, this mandate needs to come from the leadership of the organization.  And, it involves much more than just creating a formal document and posting it online somewhere. Executives need to set the example and live it themselves, champion collaboration internally among business units, groups and regions; and invest dollars to support internal and external social initiatives. Only then, will organizations realize the true business value of employees engaging externally on the social web.

I talk about this in Chapter 1 of my book, Smart Business, Social Business: A Playbook for Social Media in Your Organization scheduled to be released in July 2011.

Why Should We Track The Facebook Page?

If you’re running a business, its a great idea to setup a business Facebook page. To know what is going on in Facebook, this set up is a must to know. UK WebDigi figured out how to get around Facebook pages to track it. Hats off & buy them a bottle of Guinness!

Why Must You Know?
If your business is active in your community and you’re engaging with your friends and fans in Facebook. Chances are some of that traffic are possibly turning into leads. On the internet, its about expanding your online presences. I’m not talking about SEO, but the more referral traffic you get the better. You want to have more referral traffic than the search engines. Its been reported that Facebook gets more traffic than Google, but this is at an overall picture. So we know Facebook is a big player in getting your business traffic. The reason is online presences again, hope you get the picture.

We’re currently trying this out with Ace Air a air conditioning service company, and Builders Interiors – laminate flooring service as part of their repetoire. Any Q’s let us know!

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When you perform a search on Google, a menu appears on the left side of the Google search menu. On the menu are links like Everything, Images, Videos, News, Shopping, and so on. These are various universal search options, for example, you can search only for blogs, images or videos depending on which link you click in that menu. There is also one link called Realtime, it may appear as updates in some areas.

Selecting the Realtime link, after you perform a search, lists you the latest news and information on the Internet which are usually from sources like Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Friendfeed, Jaiku etc. This means, using the Realtime link, even people who have no Twitter account can see your links, news, offers etc., tweeted by you. With Google Realtime, all tweeters can get their tweets in the search engines. It is an easy way to get included in the search engines and almost instantly, regardless of a Twitter account’s age. An account a year or a minute old have no differences for search engines.

You just have to follow a few steps to ensure your tweet is included in Google Realtime results.

• Register/Sign up at Twitter or log in, if you are an existing user.
• Register/Sign up at Digg or log in, if you are an existing user.
• Now link your Twitter and Digg accounts via Digg.
• Post a link on Digg (try avoiding spam).
• Then elect (via Digg again) to post it to your Twitter account as well.

The first post might take some time before it appears in the Google Realtime results, but in future, they will appear almost immediately. For your posts to appear on their own, post quality content regularly and work on getting a good Twitter following with retweets and mentions.

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I forgot my notes at home and so I had to hastily recreate them.

The topic was on the future of social media and what 2011 is going to look like. Here are the important takeaways:

• Social media isn’t free. There may be no cost to setting up a profile at Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and so on, but you need to dedicate resources for social media to work. You’re either going to do this work yourself (keeping you–perhaps–from doing more profitable work), give it to an associate (keeping her from doing more profitable work), hiring an outside firm, or bringing in an intern…and even a free intern isn’t free, as there’s training involved.
• Social media needs to be integrated with the rest of your marketing. Companies who can survive on a steady diet of social media are few and far between. Ultimately, someone’s going to want to see a portfolio of work, learn more about you, etc. Plus, not all of your audience is on social media, or they’re not in a buying mood when they’re there. Social media is a powerful channel for communication and marketing, but the message needs to be consistent across all your channels, including your web site, blog, email newsletter, brochure, business cards, company van, etc.
• 2011 will be the year of mobile marketing…for some of you. For some of you it will be critical to have a mobile strategy, for others…not so much. A mobile strategy may include making sure your site works well on smart phones, or it may mean creating a 2nd web site solely for mobile visitors, or it may mean creating an app.
• You must continually create value for your community/audience. Chrystie talked about making sure you put out valuable information, and I couldn’t agree more. It’s so easy to unfollow, unfriend, or unsubscribe on the web that unless you’re providing valuable content on a regular basis you’ll soon be talking to no one but you and your mom, and maybe not even her. Value means different things to different people; maybe your value is providing good links, or how-to videos, or being irreverent.
• You’re going to have to go beyond having a Facebook page in 2011. Having a Facebook page in 2011 is just going to be a starting point…it will be the equivalent of having a web site, i.e., a business requirement. The question is, is what are you going to do with that page? What are the conversations that you will have, what levels of functionality will you add, and how will you engage your audience to build your business?

There may have been one more point, but I’ll have to wait until I get home and check those notes. In the meantime, here’s wishing you a prosperous 2011!

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The Promoted accounts launching is expected to cater to businesses that are willing to pay the microblogging company so they would get included in the site’s “Who to Follow” feature. Clearly a social media marketing strategy, employing this kind of advertisement service would generally cause the businesses to enjoy increased exposure from Twitter’s humongous user base.

The service is made possible by a program functioning as an algorithm capable of finding twitter user accounts which share interests that are likely related to the products and services offered by the advertising businesses’ accounts. The latter is “suggested” to the former by the algorithm in order for the business account to be “followed.”

This move would no doubt guarantee profit for Twitter inc., as each Promoted Tweet is estimated to cost around a hundred thousand dollars from each business willing to spread its influence and accessibility online.

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The mistake many people make when going up competition is to simply fight them head-on. If a competing site is already larger than you, than a direct conflict will more than likely leave you with losses or take an extremely long time before improvement is made. Instead, think creatively and develop strategies which give you a niche or foothold your competition hasn’t discovered yet.

A good example of creative thinking can be found with keyword development. If your competition has a lockdown on a set of keywords, then a good strategy would be to develop a set of keywords which differ slightly. Don’t deviate too far from the path as you want your keywords to keep in line with the topic. However, use longer tail keywords and discover terms your competition hasn’t thought of to use yet. A small bit of research can get your going in the right direction.

Be patient. I can’t make it anymore simple than that. Even thinking creatively and sidestepping your competition won’t net you results over night. More people end up failing due to lack of patience than just about any factor out there. Giving up will always equate to failure, but if you tough it out, many times you’ll start to see improvement.

Sometimes, being the little guy gives you a tactical advantage against competition. Being on top many times can lead to complacency, leaving you with the desire to succeed. Just keep at it, and whittle away with different strategies before discovering something which can breed results. Be creative, be patient, and adapt, and you’ll be making strides.

The rise of social media sites has given customers a new avenue to talk about your company and in turn a new way for you to reach your customers quickly.

The general practice when a crisis hits your company, affecting your customers, is to deal with it quickly. Social media sites now give you an outlet to explain the crisis and your response almost instantly.

A tip from the experts at the recent Media140 conference was to not sugar-coat your response to customers in a crisis.

Here is how media training expert, Gemma Tognini explained it:

Authenticity is the only currency acceptable when in a crisis.

So don’t lie to your customers, tell it to them straight and they will appreciate it. If you don’t tell them the truth then they will simply go looking for the truth online.

Dena Vassallo from public relations firm, PPR, explained it as the “surprise and delight factor”. If you fix any problems quickly & openly in these forums through conversation with the customer, then not only will they be surprised at how open you have been but they will also be delighted by the fast response. By resolving these problems so publicly any other followers will appreciate this also and it will likely build more trust in your brand.

Being able to respond quickly to any issues that arise comes back to the 3 principles I outlined last week – monitor, listen & respond. Monitor what is being said online about your company, listen to what these people are saying and respond in a truthful and timely manner.

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However, the analytics capability of for Facebook is pretty limited. So marketers spending all this money on facebook have very little insight into how their fan pages are performing.
Earlier this week I saw a tweet (message on twitter) with a link to Google Analytics hack for measuring facebook fan pages. We tried this hack but it had too many bugs and after wasting 2 hours we gave up on that solution.

As we were struggling with the GA hack, I got an email from Webtrends announcing their Facebook Measurement Capability. So I guess that is going to be our solution for measuring Facebook fan pages and custom apps but I will have to wait and see if it will live up to the expectations.

Here are some screenshots of Webtrends Facebook measurement reports

Here is a press release from WebTrends

“The ability to have concrete measurement on investments within Facebook and compare them apples to apples with other digital channels is critical to marketers,” said Jascha Kaykas-Wolff, vice president of marketing, Webtrends. “Our comprehensive approach to measuring Facebook, beyond just applications, allows marketers to understand the broader picture of how their Facebook investment is performing.”

Webtrends can now show you how your tabs, apps, and share features are working.

A few examples are:

• Twitter activity driving to Facebook Fan pages
• Facebook Fan page activity overlaid with corporate blog posts
• Conversion performance if they happen in Facebook
• Custom applications, Facebook page tabs, and Facebook ad click performance

Webtrends believes Facebook is one of the key social channels for brands to invest in and these capabilities will help them validate those investments.

Webtrends Analytics for Facebook
Webtrends’ new Facebook measurement capabilities utilize Webtrends Analytics 9, which combines our powerful real-time analytics engine with its best-in-class user interface. For the first time, marketers can view their Facebook measurement alongside other digital marketing investments such as websites, microsites, blogs, mobile apps, and more. Additionally, using Analytics 9’s RSS overlay capabilities, marketers can easily see the impact of promotional efforts. Tracking custom tabs, applications, and sharing provides the most complete measurement of Facebook available in the market.

How Webtrends Analytics Collects Data on Custom Tabs
Custom tabs and applications have critical differences for data collection, due to Facebook’s Terms of Service and its commitment to user privacy.

• Brands can’t use traditional analytics methods for tracking custom tabs because Facebook does not allow Javascript, and they aggressively cache images.
• To overcome these limitations, Webtrends developed a new method that uses their data collection API to bring Facebook data into Webtrends Analytics.
• In addition to tracking tab views, Webtrends can also measure:
• Tab views segmented by fans and non-fans
• Clicks on buttons and links, such as the Share button and its options

How Webtrends Analytics Collects Data on Facebook Applications

• Applications allow more tracking options both because they allow Javascript and because the Facebook’s Terms of Service allows for collection of user level data.
• Webtrends utilizes their Data Collection API to bring Facebook data into Webtrends Analytics.
• Webtrends can measure any type of application built on the Facebook platform.

The Great Data Giveaway – A Demonstration of Webtrends’ Facebook Measurement Capabilities
To demonstrate their new capabilities, Webtrends created a prototype Facebook campaign called The Great Data Giveaway. Webtrends is using this campaign as a model for their customers’ reference.

“Marketers are wrestling with how to earn and prove ROI from social media marketing,” said Kaykas-Wolff. “We designed The Great Data Giveaway to not only demonstrate our new capabilities in action, but to also show marketers that social channels like Facebook can generate qualified leads.”

The campaign is a drawing for prizes that appeal to Webtrends’ target market, which are data prizes like ReadWriteWeb premium reports and InfoChimps’ Twitter Census Data.

1. Webtrends created an application and placed it on a custom tab on Facebook to explain the contest details. KPIs: views segmented by fans and non-fans.
2. The user becomes a fan first (known as a “fan-gate”), then allows the installation of the app in compliance with Facebook’s Terms of Service. KPIs: Rate of fan interest, number of installs.
3. Once the app is installed, the user can enter the contest via a form driven by our Eloqua marketing automation system. KPIs: Entries, follow-up email opens, follow-up email conversions.
4. The app allows users to post the contest info to their wall. KPIs: Number of shares.
5. Webtrends marketing provides air-cover for the contest by mentioning it on Twitter and in blogs. KPIs: RSS overlay of promotion efforts on views (tab) and visits (application).

“We are so proactive in talking about Facebook measurement because it’s a critical area of growth for our customers. The new capabilities we have developed were shown at our recent user conference, Engage 2010, earlier this month, and we have several implementations underway,” said Kaykas-Wolff. “To meet their needs and keep up with the rate of change in this space, we have a series of capabilities we’re adding to Webtrends Analytics that will be released in the near term and ongoing basis.”

Webtrends Analytics 9 for Facebook Webinar
Webtrends will also host a Webinar in April discussing how companies can take advantage of Facebook measurement in Webtrends Analytics 9. For more information including registration, date and time, please visit us here.

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You run over to check your Twitter account. Then you dash to Facebook to see what’s going on there. Then Linkedin. Maybe your blog. All the while you’re feeling like you’re playing catch-up, that something awesome may have happened, and you missed it because you weren’t online. Sound familiar?

Sure, you can centralize some of your social media chores (great post by Chris Brogan), by using Tweetdeck or Seesmic. But that only helps if you’re online and “in the flow.”

For normal humans that check social media a couple times a day, NutshellMail may become your new favorite social companion. And it’s free.

Like RSS for your relationships

NutshellMail sends you a highly customizable email digest (from 1 to 24 times per day) of what’s happening in your social media spheres, so you can browse and get up to speed quickly, without having to visit several different destinations or fire up your iPhone’s social apps.

Twitter Without the Hassle

Want to know who has signed up to follow you on Twitter today? Who unfollowed you today? All the DMs and @ replies you received in the last three hours? NutshellMail batches it all up and sends it to you in a tidy email at the exact time of your choosing. You can even include Twitter searches in your feed, enabling you to use NutshellMail the same way you’d use TweetBeep, or an RSS feed of Twitter search results.

Handy Facebook Reminders

It’s pretty tough to find a credible excuse for missing people’s birthdays on Facebook. NutshellMail saves you from being labeled an ingrate by reminding you of all the birthdays of your Facebook friends this week. The email also can be configured to show you all new friend requests, status updates from pages that you’re a fan of, as well as photos, videos and links from your friends. Plus, event invites, and photos in which you’re tagged.

And More…

Although I’m not using it presently, you can also configure your NutshellMail to include Linkedin and MySpace content, as well as updates from the Ning groups of which you are a member.

Also, if you have several different email accounts, you can use NutshellMail to automatically combine the emails sent to your secondary and tertiary accounts and forward them together to your primary account.

All the content shown in each email is clickable. So, if you want to see more about a new Twitter follower, you can simply click the name or photo in the email, and instantly visit their bio. You can also manage your customization preferences by clicking links in the email, so visiting the NutshellMail Web site isn’t needed after initial sign-up.

Social Integration in an Instant

One of the outstanding new add-on features of NutshellMail is their Facebook app, which enables Facebook fan page managers to easily add an email newsletter tab to the page. Subscribers then receive a digest of all the content posted to the fan page. I’ve been talking a lot about the integration of email and social media, and this is another example of using cross-functional technology to build content creation and deployment synergies. Note that NutshellMail is funded in part by FBFund, Facebook’s venture capital arm.

Here’s a nice video demonstration of NutshellMail and how it can save you time and social media aggravation.

I’ve been using NutshellMail for a few weeks now, and find it indispensible. (Thanks to my friend Will Smith – the world’s second most popular Will Smith – for turning me on to it).

How can you make use of NutshellMail to simplify your social media chores?

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One of these folks, Ted Rubin (@tedrubin), exemplifies the energy and effort that is required to make a place for oneself in the social web for business. I interviewed Ted by e-mail recently to learn about the who, what, where, why and how of his social media efforts as the CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) of the Eyes Lips Face (e.l.f.) Cosmetics line. I challenge you to find a more active C-level marketer out there.

1. Tell us a bit about yourself. What is your marketing experience and what is your mission as CMO for e.l.f. Cosmetics?

Prior to joining e.l.f., I served as Senior Managing Director of Marketing and Business development for Eastern Union Commercial and RealProspex.com, the fastest growing and most innovative commercial real-estate-listing site in the country. I was also President and CEO of The Black Book and responsible for its turnaround and eventual sale to a private equity group, and have held senior level positions at 1-800-Flowers and Yoyodyne, a Yahoo! company, in addition to running my own internet marketing and business development consultancy which serviced a vast array of online and traditional companies.

As Chief Marketing Officer for e.l.f. Cosmetics, my responsibilities include communicating with and building e.l.f.’s client base, leveraging brand equity through strategic marketing programs, and creating/managing a major thrust into social media initiatives and partnerships. I also focus on strengthening both core products and line extensions, including the extremely successful Studio line and Minerals collection, both launched under my tenure and growing rapidly.

EyesLipsFace.com considers itself not only an e-tailer, but a pioneer of social commerce… a beauty and trendsetting destination site with approximately ten to twelve million page views a month, several hundred thousand monthly visitors and over two million members. I believe the key to continued success is identifying with the customer. Listening is finally getting the respect it deserves through Social Media… listen and adjust your message to make it relevant to your consumer. Brand loyalty declines due to lack of relevance… a direct result of not listening.

Number one is always try to understand who your customer is and stay true to your brand. At e.l.f. we position the brand with a unique approach toward beauty, accessibility, interactivity and consumer engagement.

2. Tell us how long you have been engaged in digital marketing (social media , search etc) and what venues you are currently using.

I have been involved in digital marketing since 1997 when I joined Seth Godin at his online direct marketing company Yoyodyne, which was acquired by Yahoo! a year later. I scaled and continued development of Yoyodyne’s most successful and only profitable product, “Get Rich ClickSM”. My team blew away sales projections from $20,000 in February 1998 to sales in excess of $6 million in the back half of that year – beating projections by more than 200 percent.

Currently at e.l.f. we are very totally immersed in affiliate, search, email, word-of-mouth, and social media marketing… as well as intertwining all of that with a robust earned media presence. In addition we maintain a seven day a week blogging presence and have built a very strong relationship with the Mommy and Beauty Blogging community.

3. Why have you chosen these avenues and are there others that you are considering?

I have chosen these venues because they lend themselves to performance marketing and allow us to either only pay for acceptable results or extend our footprint without the need for a traditional media budget.

We have an extremely high brand visibility and combined with our phenomenal “Affordable Luxury” model we are a great fit with many publishers (and work with most including Hearst, Conde Nast, Hachette Filipacchi, Time, etc.) and websites/bloggers for special features… especially in today’s economic environment.

We are featured regularly in blogs, magazines, newspapers and TV news reports on a daily basis. e.l.f. does not have a traditional marketing budget. The majority of our marketing is through PR, cross promotion, partnership, content sharing, and/or rev share with other websites. We work very aggressively enhancing the e.l.f. client base through hands-on marketing initiatives and are focusing on leveraging and continuing to grow brand equity through strategic marketing programs, partnerships and an aggressive Social Media strategy.

4. You stated in a tweet recently, “This recession, unlike past few, w/hav long term impact on consumr shopng habits. Ignor new valu paradigm at ur own risk. Could you explain what you mean by this?

This recession, unlike other recent downturns, has reached deeper into the wallets and more importantly psyche of most consumers. In addition the effects on the purchasing power of the average consumer will be longer lasting and most have seen the light for the first time in many years about the importance of building a savings base. Due to this, “Value” is now king… “Value” being a combination of price “and” quality. Simply put… consumers want more for less and will insist upon this for a long time to come.

5. Moving forward how do you intend to embrace this new paradigm for e.l.f? What will your marketing efforts look like in 5 years as a result of this shift?

The beauty of our business at e.l.f. is that we were pioneers, trailblazers and trendsetters in this regard. We were doing this when everyone else was raising their prices… even those brands that offered nothing more than fancy packaging for the higher prices.

EyesLipsFace.com is not just an etailer, but a pioneer of social commerce… we have become a beauty and trendsetting destination site with a few hundred thousand monthly visitors and in excess of 2MM members. Check out “the buzz” section on our website… . The majority of e.l.f.’s products are sold for only $1. Our single item price points for our three lines are $1 (our standard line), $3 (Studio line), and $5 (Mineral line).

In today’s rapidly evolving marketing world I am not sure what we will be doing next year, so five years out is not something I am even pondering. My hope is to continue to build upon what we have done to date with regard to engaging and interacting with our members/customers/prospective customers to build a relationship with our brand that will be loyal and enduring.

6. If you were to give someone who is new to the marketing game a bit of free advice what would it be?

Research the social media/marketing medium and become knowledgeable. There’s nothing better than first hand experience. Later, there are many things you will be able to delegate, but this is the one thing that you need to do. I spent months researching and understanding social media before I made many moves in the space for e.l.f.

Build a following for your personal brand. If you are able to build a sizeable audience for your personal brand then you are closer to developing a social marketing strategy for your company.

Set management’s expectations properly so everyone understands what you are trying to accomplish and how to measure those results.

Build a strategy with measurable goals, such as number of followers, growth rate and interactions, but don’t avoid areas that may not be measured accurately as these are potentially very valuable to the company’s bottom line down the road.

Get your hands dirty… interact with your audience and provide that personal touch that a brand so desperately requires.

7. How important do you think video and interactive content will be in the near future?

I think video, and the ability to put a face to the name of user-generated content, will play a huge role in the growth of social media marketing. When the next phase is complete, and the average consumer can manage the ability to embed a link that can click through to a product from a YouTube or other ubiquitous video platform, the next generation advocate/affiliate will arise and become incredibly valuable to a retailer/brand.

In January 2009 we launched a sister site ASKelf.com that hosts all user-generated content posted about e.l.f. around the web, primarily focusing on video, and will soon be integrating it into our site in a significantly upgraded format as the The e.l.f. Beauty Network.

We just re-launched our site this month with a new design and will be adding the The e.l.f. Beauty Network as soon as the design is ready to fit in and some important upgrades are made.

Thanks to Ted for his time. As noted at the start, he may be the “hardest working man in C-level social media”. If you have any questions ask away. I suspect Ted will be willing to “interact” here at Marketing Pilgrim.

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