eMarketing Thoughts &Discussion

Check out this link to the Vancouver YMCA’s 2011 annual report:  http://www.imagineourymca.ca/
(created by the award-winning, Vancouver-based web marketing firm Domain7)

YMCA breathed life into their annual report by turning it into an interactive story. Rather than using traditional print, the non-profit released an innovative, adaptive, and beautiful annual report that reads like an infographic and engages like a story. It’s extremely shareable. It connects with people on a human level. Not to mention it buries print and mail expenses.

The web has a curious way of either enabling remoteness, or fostering closeness. You can use the web broadcast information in a cold, robotic fashion. Or, like the YMCA, you can use it to draw closer to the lives of your audience and make them feel like you’re engaging with them personally. I love that YMCA can connect so well with their audience, on a human level, through something like an annual report – a publication typically scrutinized for numbers or inconsistencies. Very fitting for a non-profit centered around community. Some businesses would benefit to follow suit, especially in a digital age.

To be honest, I didn’t understand SEO nor acknowledge its importance before taking 464.

During some research and study on the topic, I came to appreciate the weight of just how valuable SEO activities are to a business. According to research done by SEOmoz (the leading firm in SEO software), more digital marketers spend time daily in SEO than any other activity, including site analytics and social. In addition SEOmoz forecasted that this ratio is set to rise, as search optimization becomes more and more fundamental to marketing activity.

(http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1009368)

Search is hardly glamorous compared to its contemporaries, like social media or viral campaigns or even blog rolls (although these activities are interdependent). What helped me grasp its significance was an metaphor SEOmoz gave in their Beginner’s Guide to SEO, comparing the world wide web to a massive city with each webpage being a different destination. Search engines are therefore like the infrastructure that consumers absolutely rely on to get from a to b. It has become as essential to the way Internet works as cars and trucks and airplanes are to the way our economy runs.

Since search is the principal way consumers will navigate to your website, and since there’s such a massive difference in click-through rates for an engine’s top results, search has the ability to make or break a business. Delivering content in a way that engines recognize it as relevant and important to consumer queries has therefore become an essential part of eMarketing.

I recently read an evaluation of the presidential candidates’ use of social media, written by one of the founder’s of Altimeter Group Charlene Li. You can check it out here:

Further along Charlene’s analysis, she commented that Romney’s team has “mastered social media marketing” and yet failed to be “personal and direct.” His twitter account is framed “annoyingly in the first person,” yet it’s clear to observers that Romney’s staff is writing his tweets. He fails to foster a sense of engagement with his followers by neglecting to do things like tell his story personally or speak directly to his followers through via video. This has opened room for Democrats to accuse Romney as having “authenticity problems”.

My question is, isn’t engagement that what social media marketing is about? If a business does not leverage the web space in a way to connect and converse with their audience on a human level, can we appraise them to have mastered social media marketing? … Uhh, probably not.

The article concludes by drawing a few helpful points, suggesting that both political parties are not capitalizing on the social aspect of social media. Rather than focusing their efforts on “call and response” type messaging, as she puts it, both sides would do well to focus on igniting conversation. They should encourage people to discuss their values and political convictions with friends. Only 58% of eligible Americans voted in the last election; parties would do well to harness the capabilities of Twitter to stir discussion that leads to action (voting).

According to research done by SAP, Social Media Today, and Pivot Conference, businesses aren’t putting their “money where their mouth is” when it comes to allocating resources to social media customer service.

Yes, businesses are enthusiastic about social. Seventy-one percent of businesses surveyed integrate Social Media with customer service, and 87.5% of these saw a positive impact after integrating social. Businesses recognize that social media adds value to the customer service process.

However, businesses don’t match their enthusiasm by investing appropriate resources and time into their social plan. The study found that of these businesses, the vast majority invested less than $50k of resources in social media customer support. That’s hardly enough to hire one entry level professional. Even worse, the survey revealed significant organizational and efficiency issues. For one, 40% of them don’t have any formal process for dealing with service issues – they respond to customers on an ad-hoc basis. And secondly, service representatives are commonly delayed from responding to customers because they’re busy finding the right answer, waiting for guidance on how to answer, or finding the appropriate message to respond. I think it’s fair to infer that these two issues originate from companies failing to develop a framework around social media customer service.

(http://www.briansolis.com/2012/10/businesses-are-not-making-the-pivot-from-lip-service-to-customer-service/)

Tailoring a social media triage and training employees in how to engage with customers will help eliminate these inefficiencies, boost professionalism, and maximize the benefit to your customers and to your brand. Frustrated or confused customers aren’t looking for a quick response if it fails to resolve their complaints.