123SocialMedia by barry hurd

04:44 pm | 1 recommendation | Be the first to comment

Corporate Social Media - Intermec Reviewed

Monitoring the huge trend in corporate social media, executives around the world are testing new ways of sharing information and trying to discard some old school stumbling blocks. Many corporate decision makers are left looking at advanced spreadsheets and blindly take shot after shot in the dark (hoping they hit the mythical beast "the prospect" in the process.) As our team at 123 is often moving around and speaking to these decision makers, we occasionally like to flex our brains a little and examine a company online.

Are they doing it right? Are they doing it wrong? Are they even trying? Most importantly, what type of information is available by spending a few minutes browsing around the net?

 

One of the companies that caught my attention for reviewing was Intermec. When I first visited the Intermec site I thought "uh oh, another corporate site" and then I noticed they had a few unusual links at the bottom: del.icio.us, Digg, and Technorati. I found this odd, mostly since a good portion of users coming to this site (business decision makers) have little knowledge of what del.icio.us, Digg, or Technorati is. On a flip side, I would have to assume that no one on del.icio.us, Digg, or Technorati has any clue what Intermec does. (BTW, they are in Seattle and I am one of the rare people who actually knows what Intermec does.)

For those of you who don't know, "Intermec Inc. (NYSE:IN) is in the business of helping you achieve the most return from your automated information and data capture (AIDC) and mobile computing systems. That means we do more than design and build the industry’s most complete lineup of rugged, reliable and versatile equipment. We also work with you to get inside your challenges, to know your unique situation and then leverage our strong relationships with resellers and industry-leading alliance partners to help you create a total solution that harmonizes with your networks, platforms and processes. Our collaborative, connected approach can ensure a more complete and seamless implementation whether your needs call for our Gen2 RFID, bar code systems, rugged computers or a Cisco WLAN infrastructure." (Quoted from Intermec site.)

What does that mean? Well... that is the type of stuff you see on many corporate sites these days. It is the officially confusing way to make sure that social media doesn't work and that the general visitor suffers a quick case of avoidance. If you land on nearly any page of the Intermec site, you discover brochure pages that would be confusing for the general population of a larger social networking site. If you are lucky, they may actually take a second to read the "about us" page and be baffled by the terminology of an industry, or be lost when a company uses acronym descriptors like AIDC, WLAN, or Gen2 RFID.

If you were a user of Intermec's products or looking for like-minded information, the site design may be presenting the information at the right experience level. However general social media sites are not experienced in the vocabulary of your industry, so examining the actual social networks they are trying to maneuver in reveals some problematic issues:

Technorati has 100 results for the term "Intermec" on various blog posts and articles. I am unfortunately not spotting any official Intermec blog or centralized source of information to harness that exposure. It appears as if all the product reviews and random commentary are either not pointing back at the main Intermec site, or randomly linking to a nestled product page. With the amazing amount of information Intermec releases in newsletters and articles, it is somewhat baffling to find that they are not syndicating the content through a branded blog or properly setup information site.

Digg reveals another unfavorable scenario: Ouch. Zero results. Perhaps someone working at Intermec should Digg a few results.... or they may have tried doing that a little too often and found themselves removed from the Digg platform for spamming (I didn't check to see if it was removed for spamming.) Del.icio.us reveals that while popular is popular, it is also a strange way of losing money. Del.icio.us has 259 mentions of Intermec. At first glance this would probably mean "success" to most corporate marketers. They have tagged content for words that could produce some relevant traffic for the business. Unfortunately a variety of suppliers (and Google) seem to be buying the traffic via the adwords campaign highlighted in red on the screenshot to the left. Intermec itself is buying the keyword "Intermec" for brand protection, paying $1.75 to $2.90 per visitor. Rather than receive "free traffic" from a social media site, Intermec is actually losing advertising budget to both del.icio.us and Google. This is a typical Google issue found on many sites that utilize the Adwords system for monetizing traffic, social media transforms from organic traffic to paid traffic. Moving away from social media sites and looking at Compete.com, we can see that Intermec has been doing a decent job this year for increasing traffic. According to open data sources, traffic is up roughly 160% since last year. The top relevant keywords sending traffic to the site are:

1. intermec
2. intermec technologies
3. rfid tags consumer products
4. rfid chips

These keywords are ultimately one of the "sweet spot" targets for other competitive companies. Collecting the information on five to ten competitive businesses usually reveals the best keyword choices and open targets for driving organic search traffic. Allowing your competitors to do the heavy lifting work of experimenting with keyword phrases is an effective way of reducing the project cost of your own keyword campaigns (either paid or organic.)

Back to my questions from the beginning of the article:

Are they doing it right? Are they doing it wrong? Are they even trying? They are trying, but missing to target the right demographic in social media. This is a general promotion issue in many marketing campaigns: the target is missing the demographic. While sites like Del.isio.us, Technorati, and Digg have massive communities, they may or may not have a niche audience that fits with your overall mission objective. Even if an article or project page was "Dugg to the Top" what results would 500k generic visitors produce? (Probably none)

When corporate social media campaigns are launched, it requires strategic mindset to analyze the available audience and choose an appropriate goal for the business. The steps to examine in launching a promotional effort with social media has a very simple core:

• Needs of the Business
• Budget and resources (labor, talent, available bandwidth, and dollars)
• Competitive Analysis (like minded information, finding sweet spots with maximum ROI)
• Understanding of the available audience
• Conversion goals of the campaign
• Measurement

In Intermec's case, there could be useful reasons for using Digg, Del.icio.us, or Technorati, but the benefit for a corporation in such an audience would need to focus on relevant campaigns that work within the confines of the audience. There are also additional benefits that may be a step removed, such as promoting an article or whitepaper within a community like Digg to produce a specific search engine result.

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This is from an article I just wrote today on corporate social media (my site version has pictures). The crowd here on FastCompany seems like they would get the big picture statement in it regarding social media marketing, and for those interested in reading more I would greatly check out the list of corporate campaigns mashable.com has that I mention.

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If you would like to read another article on other types of information that are readily available online, read my article on Intelius, which includes financial, marketing, and brand impact information results you can find online.

06:40 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment

Business Social Media - Effective Blog Writing 101

I wrote an article today on my main site blog about business social media, specifically how professionals can write for social media with blogs. It includes some touch points from Darren Rowse from Problogger and Dustin M Wax.
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Darren Rowse of Problogger fame has an excellent guest post by Dustin M Wax regarding "Nine Signs of an Effective Blog Post". Many good writers fail to realize some of the subtle nuances in writing online (such as for blogs or online communities) and this piece by Dustin breaks down some exceptional points. For additional pieces like it here, you can also read Effective Social Media Writing and Blogging Like a Kid. "You sweat blood all night, hunched over your keyboard, typing away at your blog’s next masterpiece. Finally, you click “Publish”, the post flies into the ether, and then, you wait." The following nine points are all well defined in Dustin's article, but I also think there is some wonderful knowledge trapped in the basic essence of his nine points:

1. The headline draws the reader in.
2. A concrete detail or visual illustrates the benefit promised in the headline.
3. The lead expands the theme of the heading
4. The layout is clear and skimmable.
5. The post covers the topic in a logical sequence.
6. The post is persuasive.
7. The post is interesting to read.
8. The post is believable.
9. The post asks for some action.

These points are a good resource for any writer trying to grab a hold of the ideas behind social media and blogging. On a more technical level of moving readers into a post, I would also point out that writers looking to harness the promotional and viral aspects of blogging go through some additional steps before posting an article:

• Analyze Your Keywords - This article on social media keyword tools shows you how to look at keywords and phrases that will help draw relevant traffic to your article.
• Have a Traffic Strategy - while browsing through social media keywords, think about the bigger picture of who and why you are reaching readers. If you are reaching journalists, your information should be provided in a more concise format for reprint. If you are reaching consumers, tone your message to the audience appropriately. In either case, realize that monetizing your traffic may have a delay depending on the length of your sales cycle and the information you are presenting.
• Ask Readers to Subscribe- this may sound simple, but check the bottom of this article and look at the "if you like this article, why not subscribe?" button. Selling your services and keeping your readers informed are often the same thing when it comes to social media. Provide useful information on a consistent basis and you will develop a longterm audience that provides a healthy marketing channel over time.
• Link to the post to your other articles- Once you have someone on your site and they are reading your information, encourage them to stay around a little and read more information. By directing readers to other helpful information you can increase your traffic and develop stronger relationships with your readers.
• Keep Your Articles Focused - if you are trying to develop a readership, try to keep on-target with your core articles. This also applies to the technical side of search engine optimization for your articles, if you are trying to rank for competitive keywords you may need to produce 3 to 10 articles that revolve around the same relevant keywords.
• Use Related Keywords - Before publishing articles on your site, try to plan a few articles in advance so that you can coordinate keywords between them. As good example is for real estate terms, if you want to rank for the phrase "seattle real estate" then you could produce several articles on other local terms such as "Bellevue Real Estate" or "Bothell Real Estate"

08:21 pm | 2 recommendations | 1 comment

Professional Social Media Training

I wrote an article today on my main site blog about social media training, specifically how professionals can learn to think outsite the box and strategically learn from a network of experts. I wanted to share it with everyone here, and hope you get the point I am trying to convey.

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My friend Joe Hage and I did a marketing workshop last night for a small group of professionals. Normally hosting a marketing workshop wouldn’t be a noteworthy event, but in this case it is a wonderful case example of starting a connection using social media and developing into a trusting business relationship.

Who is Joe Hage?

As a professional, Joe is one of the few marketers I have met that has an extreme grasp of both tactical and strategic marketing. He has a sparkling resume of working with companies like Cardiac Science, 1-800-Flowers, Kraft Foods, Jell-O, and Safeco. When he originally met me, Joe didn’t know a huge volumes about my specialty in social media, and he immediately rolled up his sleeves and began devouring information. In any line of marketing work, the ability to absorb new concepts and create new strategies is essential to exceeding expectations. From a business perspective- Joe is the “full meal deal” when it comes to marketing strategy.

How did we meet?

I originally met Joe by being a casual member of a local online community here in Seattle called Biznik. You can view both of our friendly profiles here - Joe Hage and Barry Hurd. In terms of the relationship between us, Joe and I would simply not have met in real life if not for Biznik. Realizing that two extremely busy professionals such as Joe and I can form a strong and healthy relationship using online networking is an eye-opener for other professionals like us.

How do we interact?

Joe and I use Biznik as a place to shed some of our daily job duties and dive into a creative problem solving mindset working with independent business owners. While I cannot speak entirely for Joe, planning the occasional workshop with a different group of professional personalities allows me to really flex my brain and bring my marketing mind to bear. While some topics in such a class may seem very “101″ to either of us, the unexpected difficulties and obstacles our attendees have require us to think outside of our own box.

What was our workshop about?

The official positioning statement: “To Biznik members in the real estate and related industries, Joe and Barry’s Real Estate Marketing Workshop is your opportunity to learn and apply strategies you need to better stand out in a market crowded with half-hearted real estate professionals.”

In our two-hour session, you will:

• Apply recommendations from the real estate marketing article to your own business.
• Share and learn best practices used by fellow Bizniks in the space.
• Get Barry’s counsel on which search engine optimization key words are virtually impossible to get.
• Walk away with some of Barry’s best tricks to get your name on the Google searches you are targeting.

What did people learn?

A lot more than those four bullet points above. The attendees had a chance to hear relevant and like-minded marketing problems analyzed and trouble-shot by two marketing veterans. However the real value only becomes apparent when the audience and the mentors agree to see things from different angles.

In the normal world most of us accept our problems and obstacles from our own point of view. When we see a wall in front of us, most of us see an option to steer around it or stop.

Joe and I do not see things from the same angle. Yes we are both marketing professionals. Yes we both have a lot of experience.
Yet we each have a fundamental viewpoint and core to the way our mind works.

In an interactive workshop, attendees have the ability to utilize the wisdom and talent of the entire group. Joe and I may lead the discussion, but we cannot see how anyone else perceives the same problem. We can only observe how we see it, along with how we view the interaction of the group members.

By utilizing skill, talent, experience, and different perspectives - a team of professionals working in unison can creatively offer solutions to maneuver around almost any obstacle. With only a few extra viewpoints, the team may also benefit from knowing what is behind the obstacle before they even decide to expend the effort to get around it.

Conclusion - What does this mean in regards to social media?

Simply put= When used correctly, social media allows any professional to use the wisdom and talent of the entire conversation. They may be smart and talented in respect to a certain field of focus, but the intelligence, talent, and return on effort is magnified significantly by the ability to accept that they may have a perspective that is hindering progress. (I.E. truly wise people can admit that they are wrong, not “the best”, or simply need help.)

As a professional who utilizes the online world, every day of my life is exposed to the benefit of having hundreds of experts in my network that serves as a sounding board to my own ideas. That exposure is not just simply readership and promotion for my business, but results in the benefit of my ideas interacting with the talented viewpoint of professionals like Joe and all of you.

12:05 am | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment

Influential Business Leaders and the Wall Street Journal

This is a quick reprint of an article I posted yesterday on my site "Influential Business Thinkers - Are Gurus Evolving?" 

Entrepreneurial and influential business thinkers have always been a secret passion of mine. In addition to having amazing thoughts, you have to have the business acumen to take action and reach results that many people do not even perceive. The Wall Street Journal had this article about a shift in how business leaders are changing- “New Breed of Business Gurus Rises”

The way professionals (and researchers) define data is also of extreme interest to me, especially when looking at how online information is being passed back and forth through online communication tools such as social media and search engines.

In the Wall Street Journal article, they ranked the gurus by a fairly simple methodology “The ranking is based on Google hits, or results mentioning the person when searched in Google, media mentions in LexisNexis, and academic citations for 110 business “gurus” who ranked high in the 2003 survey or have since won a significant following. The thinkers were ranked in each area, the rankings were summed, and those sums were ranked to create the final list.”

This idea is great from a historical perspective, but it is ironically funny that the WSJ used such an out-dated way of searching for gurus and thought leaders online. I am familiar with Google and LexisNexis data indexing, and the academic citations for “gurus” is pretty straight-forward…

Google is not the “end all, be all” of if you are a Guru or Thought-leader. Sure some people may find information about you… but there are many reasons that someone may have falsely inflated numbers in Google. For instance Bill Gates is on the top five list, but if you count all the “hits” of Bill Gates online, you don’t end up with just business guru mentions… you end up with sites talking about his car and his photo of being arrested when he was younger. Surely Bill Gates is a business guru, but the metrics of his juvenile years throws the numbers off. (He is also the richest man of who owns several search marketing companies that cannot manage to push some criminal photos off his own search results for his personal reputation.)

Along the same line of thinking as the WSJ, I started a series of articles called “Other Smart People” that includes individuals in my industry that are pre-qualified only by my appreciation of the skills and expertise they share.

While my qualifier and testing may be based only on personal interpretations, I think that social media is pushing us farther and farther away from scoring individuals based sheerly on metrics and datasources online. Google itself is shifting over to more and more algorithms that rank the popularity of specific personalities and sites- which is abused fairly frequently by search marketers who don’t “play nice”

In the instance of the Wall Street Journal list, I wonder if there is anyone with my skillset manipulating the scoring system to merely get on top of a list like that? The opening phrase for the WSJ article is “Psychologists, journalists and celebrity chief executives crowd the top of a ranking of influential business thinkers” and I have this gut feeling that Psychologists and journalists ARE NOT on the top of the influential list of gurus, and that people like Robert Scoble (FastCompany blogger) and Seth Godin (Best Selling Author, Speaker) who are influencing hundreds of thousands of business professionals every day should be on that list.

04:27 am | 1 recommendation | Be the first to comment

Social Media Profiles and Brand Reputation

To be, or not to be, that is the question. This famous quote highlights the importance of how Social Media profiles are influencing how we exist online or if viewers find relevant information about our brand.

Whether the brand in question is an individual or business one, establishing proper profiles on social media sites can increase search recognition, bolster traffic on specific phrases, and control how visitors perceive your information and presence.

While some companies focus on “the top”, this is a fundamental problem in online marketing and brand promotion. Top results in search technology and branding are created by establishing a presence in many different places.

In basic terms: if you want to be on top of the pyramid – you also have to be on the bottom.

For the purposes of this article, we will focus on a case study of how my own name shows up in search results: “Barry Hurd”

You can do a quick search on Google and Yahoo for my name, unlike many professionals you will see that my information is on dozens of different social media sites that allow profiles. I actually maintain a large list of hundreds of accounts that focus on different business priorities and target audiences.

In the case of my own name, many of my profiles are fairly generic so that they can be used for generic projects. However many of them are seeded with appropriate keywords and links to other sites, articles, or items of professional interest for me.

Creating effective Social Media Profiles

Step One: Use strategy. Before you start creating profiles and running amok through dozens of social media sites, sit down and detail why you are creating these profiles. Securing a personal brand name, achieving higher search engine results, and exposing your company message to the community are all good goals. Each and every user of social media is going to have different personal and professional goals.

• How do you want to present yourself?
• What sets you apart from your competitors?
• Will you be active in the community?

Step Two: Identify the information you want communicate. To save a lot of time and effort, collect the information you want to share with the world. If this is a professional application to enhance your career status, have an updated resume on hand and highlight the information you want to use. Consistent and clear information through-out a social media project is essential.

• What name do you want to use? This is important- as your name will be a primary way people find this information through searching.
• What keywords do you want to be found under? In any profile system that allows titles, descriptions, and other information- your priority keywords should be used.
• What visual picture is going to represent you? Almost every profile allows an image, have a company logo and profile image handy.
• What testimonials can you share? Everyone has a few good things other people have said.

Step Three: Where will I be and who will I be with? Social Media has the word “social in it for a reason. Utilizing your existing network is the quickest way to get a boost to the results that your profiles can have online. Below is a brief sample of sites that some of my information appears on. There are hundreds, if not thousands of sites that information could appear on.

www.linkedin.com – Linkedin is the largest online professional profile service there is. I am active under several profiles in the questions and answers section, and I also use it to create niche networks of professionals for specific business projects.

biznik.com – Biznik is a good example of a niche marketplace of small business owners. The profiles rank very well under search engine results and there are interesting small business conversations happening in the local area.

socialmediasystems.com/blog – my own company blog, where members of my staff write about various online trends and tactics. Having a presence on my company blog allows me to connect my company brand with my personal brand, which is essential as a consultant and spokesperson for the company.

www.jobster.com – Jobster is the largest profile based job site. In addition to allowing me to keep track of professionals I know in different companies, the profiles also rank very well in the search engine results.

www.barryhurd.com – my personal blog site with my proper name as the domain. Owning your own name is well worth $10 a year. Roughly 20% of search users type searches directly into a web browser address bar – which means they go to a domain first (if that domain actually exists.)

Step Four: Invite people to participate. While there are branding and minor search engine benefits of social media, the true benefits come from actively participating in the medium by invited associates and other like-minded professionals to connect.

• Jump start your social media profiles by writing a quick e-mail to your top 25 contacts and inviting them to see your information.
• Make a monthly effort to invite 5 to 10 new connections.
• Choose one new social media site each month and create another profile.

Step Five- Taking it to the next level. Here is a list of sites that can keep most professionals growing into the social media marketplace. Spend an hour each month looking at a new community and detailing if it is a good place for you to spend some effort finding new (or old) connections.

ASSOCIATEDCONTENT.COM * DIGG.COM * ZOODANGO.COM * MYBLOGLOG.COM * REDDIT.COM * ONLYWIRE.COM * PLAXO.COM * ZOOMINFO.COM * SQUIDDOO.COM * CLAIMID.COM * Del.icio.us * YELP.COM * RYZE.COM * MYSPACE.COM * ZIGGS.COM * MEETUP.COM * NETSCAPE.COM * TECHNORATI.COM * WWW.ZIKI.COM * UPCOMING.ORG * RATEPOINT.COM * HOOVERSCONNECT.VISIBLEPATH.COM