There is no such thing as ’social media’
by Jeff Molander
Time to read: 3.5 minutes.
The sooner marketers realize “all the Web is a social media” the sooner they’ll improve results of Web marketing. The sooner they’ll be able to integrate social media to drive sales, leads and increase customer value (along side of other key strategies). But so long as marketers treat select Web media as “social” and other as “traditional” they will lose. They are losing. All the Web is a social media — and always has been. Once you see all media as being “social” everything changes. The path to improving Web marketing results is clear. Click to continue…
Are merchant selling networks the birth of
‘Social eCommerce?’
by Jeff Molander
There’s an endless amount of silly and illogical hype around Facebook and Twitter — their ability to create a new form of advertising. Forget advertising for a moment: When will e-commerce become socialized? Which companies will actually enable it? eBay’s unbridled success gave birth to an ecosystem of companies that “help sellers sell”… and eBay brings buyers and sellers together around shared interests to gab, blog, review products, etc. But there aren’t any companies out there helping sellers connect with other sellers to create “merchant networks” — with one exception. Not until today have sellers been able to instantly connect with other sellers to expand their own inventory (find new stuff to sell) AND create new sales channels (recruit other sellers as distributors). Check out this short video for the basics and here’s a link to the media release http://pitch.pe/16159
What do you think? Click to continue…
How to Choose a Social Marketing
‘Expert’ or Agency
by Jeff Molander
Time to read: 6 minutes.
In a digital advertising world filled with hype, spin and flat out lies it’s hard to make reliable, strategic decisions about investing in social technologies or strategies. What people or agencies should you say yes and no to? What’s the qualification process in an evolving, “standards-less” industry? Realizing that everyone’s got a good reference or two lying around… how do you qualify social media/marketing experts and agencies in particular? Here’s my quick tip on how to find and qualify professionals who are focused on real, tangible social marketing outcomes.
I’m Calling Bull on Twittermania
by Jeff Molander
Twitter. The world cannot stop talking about it — so it must be important right? It’s been a fun ride but I say it’s mostly bull. You don’t need to be using Twitter. Large or small brand, you don’t need to be THAT worried about the social influence of customers on your brand. Fact: none of this social marketing stuff is new, complex or urgent because the outputs, so far, are rarely (if ever) meaningful to businesses. The experts are not only wrong but most of Twitter’s “big success stories” are mostly overblown, illogical or actually symptoms of a broken customer service system.
How do You Make Social Media Decisions?
by Jeff Molander
When it comes to making decisions about your business and the Internet nothing is easy especially when it comes to “social media.” How many blog posts are needed to make the exercise effective? How much effort must be invested in Facebook to see a return? How much Twitter ‘engagement’ is needed to realize positive effect? Do you rely on outside experts and if so is this a wise strategy? I think it’s a terrible strategy. Here’s a better way to make social / Web 2.0 marketing investment decisions: Start with asking WHY… Click to continue…
Twitter: With What Purpose?
by Jeff Molander
Think about it: Despite the popularity of social media, the world remains remarkably unknowable. Extracting value from tools like Twitter requires people to use them in ways that their creators don’t encourage!
Hard Core Soft Selling with Rok Hrastnik
by Jeff Molander
Here’s a guy who’s hard core when it comes to soft selling. Click to continue…
What RSS is & Why You Should Care
by Jeff Molander
RSS is a means to transport information across the Web — just like how HTTP works with browsers to publish and receive HTML pages.
It’s important to marketers because it can be used to cut costs, increase content-based transactions that lead to purchase, deliver ANY kind of content reliably, enhance search engine optimization and conduct market research.
Customer Acquisition Using Social Marketing & Consumer Empowerment
by Jeff Molander
This presentation was given to the Business Networking Chicago IT S.I.G on June 16, 2008.
Best Practices in Consumer Empowerment
by Jeff Molander
The Web is all about interaction… and interaction forces experience. More than anything else customers are experiencing through their interactivity. Will their experience be fun, frustrating or confusing? As a marketer, the answer is up to you.
Here’s how another company is using video to create experiential marketing that results in customer acquisition and retention. It’s a great example of a best practice in social marketing or what’s being called “consumer empowerment.”
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