integrating social-media-the-right-way

Special Report: Integrating Social Media the Right Way

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SELECTING PLATFORMS BY TACTICAL EFFECTIVENESS AND ARCHITECTURAL FIT The following chart shows the average percentage of organizations using each of the social media platforms for marketing purposes today. Keep in mind that the average is skewed toward those choosing platforms based on “fast and easy” implementation. Your selection of social media technology brands should be based on effectiveness and have a plan and a purpose.

CHART: SOCIAL MEDIA TECHNOLOGY PLATFORMS USED FOR MARKETING PURPOSES

22%

32%

41%

63%

64%

71%

90%

Company branded or managed wiki(s)

Social bookmarking sites (Digg, Delicious, etc.)

User forums or discussion groups

Multimedia content sharing sites (YouTube, Flickr, Slideshare, etc.)

Company branded or managed blog(s)

Microblogs (Twitter, Jaiku, etc.)

Professional or social networks (LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.)

Source / Methodology: MarketingSherpa Social Media Marketing Benchmark Survey / Fielded Nov 2009, N=2,317

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SOCIAL MEDIA BRANDS The following is a partial list of social media platforms with the leading brand in each category.

WORKSHEET: ANALYZING THE STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF LEADING SOCIAL MEDIA BRANDS

Social Media Platform / Brand Strengths Weaknesses

Social Network

Facebook

400 million active users (Jan 2010) Demographic shift 18-25 to 25-54 Brand pages create fan interaction Drive traffic to hub site content Increase search results for brand

Requires fan engagement effort Separating personal and brand use

Social Network (Professional)

LinkedIn

50 million active professionals Personal branding and contacts Demonstrate thought-leadership LinkedIn Groups and Answers Growing number of applications

Smaller user base than Facebook Professional connection versus

company branding orientation

Microblog

Twitter

75 million active users (Jan 2010) Followers have common interests Quick engagement with followers Drive traffic to hub site content Real time monitoring of keywords

Message limit 140 characters Overwhelming stream of tweets Balancing frequency and relevancy

Video Sharing

YouTube

Videos are most engaging content Highest viral campaign potential Videos are powerful branding tools Host and share videos without IT Increase search results for brand

Redirecting traffic from videos to hub site content Production of videos Potential for inappropriate content

Photo Sharing

Flickr

Photos are most often used content Drive traffic to hub site content Build inbound links to hub sites Increase search results for brand Easy to use interface

Low clickthrough rate to hub site Requires keyword tagging strategy

Presentation Sharing

SlideShare

Largest presentation sharing site Host and share existing content Gain brand exposure Embed with keyword-rich links Drive traffic to hub site content

Lots of content to compete with Requires keyword tagging strategy

Document Sharing

Scribd

Largest document sharing site Host and share existing content Gain brand exposure Embed with keyword-rich links Drive traffic to hub site content

Lots of content to compete with Requires keyword tagging strategy

Social Bookmarking or News

Digg

Indexing generates blogger links Votes gain trust and popularity Drive traffic to hub site content Build inbound links to hub sites Increase viral campaign potential

Requires lots of traffic and votes to get ranked Low level of brand building value Commercial use often banned

Source: Icons http://icondock.com





SOCIAL MARKETING ARCHITECTURE

LACK OF ARCHITECTURE RESULTS IN RANDOM ACTS OF SOCIAL MARKETING Captivated by the hype and the ease of implementing social sites, many marketers initially ignored proven marketing principles. Instead of developing a strategy to guide them, they launched their social media initiatives by creating blogs, Twitter and Facebook accounts without a plan or a purpose.

Many marketers in the trial phase of social marketing maturity continue to initiate social marketing programs by implementing social sites first, then trying to figure what to do with them. To avoid these random acts of social marketing, marketers must begin their initiatives by researching the medium, monitoring target audiences to determine realistic objectives, and formulating a tactical plan of action. Then and only then should they design an architecture and roll out the social media sites required to implement the plan.

EXAMPLE: WHAT SOCIAL MARKETING LOOKS LIKE WITHOUT A PLAN OR PURPOSE





To help you visualize your social marketing architecture, label the platforms illustrated in this diagram with the social media brands selected in the previous worksheet.

WORKSHEET: ASSEMBLING THE PIECES OF YOUR SOCIAL MARKETING ARCHITECTURE





WHY ARE THEY DOING IT? PERCEPTIONS OF SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA’S OBJECTIVES To get a better understanding of why marketers are currently using social media and search, we asked more than 2,000 marketers what they believed the most effective social media and SEO objectives to be.

CHART: THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SEO OBJECTIVES AND SOCIAL MEDIA OBJECTIVES

SEO is clearly perceived as being the more effective tactic for increasing bottom line, and commonly measured objectives like increased website traffic, lead generation, offline sales revenue and online sales revenue. Social media is perceived to be the more effective tactic for objectives that are new to measurement, like improved brand or product reputation and public relations. Many marketers may think these objectives are still difficult to measure, but with the growth of social monitoring tools it is now possible to define brand reputation and reach.

Currently, social media is not widely perceived as being very effective for lead generation or increasing sales revenue, and search is not widely perceived as being very effective in improving public relations or reputation. The marketers who are balancing search and social are doing it because they believe they make a good pair towards achieving objectives where the other is not as effective.

26%

17%

35%

57%

27%

29%

42%

9%

10%

18%

33%

36%

37%

37%

Increase online sales revenue

Increase offline sales revenue

Increase lead generation

Increase website traffic

Improve public relations

Improve brand or product reputation

Increase brand or product awareness

Very Effective Social Media ObjectivesVery Effective SEO Objectives

Source / Methodology: MarketingSherpa Search Marketing Benchmark Survey / Fielded April, 2010 N=2,194





SOCIAL MEDIA’S INFLUENCE ON SEARCH ENGINE RANKINGS When we asked marketers what their goals were for integrating social with search, 69% of our respondents indicated they wanted to use social media to help improve their current search engine rankings. Let’s see how they did.

CHART: AVERAGE TARGET KEYWORD RANKINGS BY SOCIAL MEDIA USE

For the chart above, we’re defining non-social media users as marketers who do not currently integrate social media into their search campaigns, and social media users as those who do. As you can see, there isn’t a drastic difference in the average target keyword rankings between these groups. Social Media Users performed slightly better in positions 4-6, and had fewer companies ranked in positions 7-11, so social media was able to help them slightly, but the results are otherwise comparable.

Don’t be fooled, social media does have the potential to greatly improve your search engine marketing campaigns, just not in the way you might expect.

8%

11%

13%

35%

34%

6%

10%

18%

31%

35%

Greater than page 2 of search

results

Page 2 of search results

Positions 7 - 11

Positions 4 - 6

Positions 1 - 3

Non-Social Media Users Social Media Users






THE HIDDEN BENEFITS OF INTEGRATING SOCIAL MEDIA WITH SEARCH PRACTICES To dig deeper into the benefits of integrating social media with search practices, we analyzed the organic and PPC conversion rates for social media users and non-social media users.

CHART: ORGANIC CONVERSION RATES BY SOCIAL MEDIA USE

This is where social media shows its true benefit in its integration with search. Our results showed a 59% improvement of organic search conversion rates for those who integrated social and search over those who did not.

There’s no doubt that social media can be an effective tactic in improving brand or product reputation and public relations. It’s likely that an improved public profile would result in a higher conversion rate. If a search engine user already recognizes and has heard positive things about a company that shows up in their search results, they are more likely to click through and convert on their website.

Companies that participate in social media already know that their social content is getting indexed by the search engines. Now, when a consumer conducts a search, they can be presented with social networking profiles, images, videos, slide presentations and customer reviews. This is another way that social media improves organic conversion rates.

Since social media generates an increased number of listings that a participating brand receives on search results pages, their competition gets pushed down to lower rankings. This establishes that participating brand as the key player for the search engine user’s query. This could also increase organic clickthrough rate and website traffic without even improving actual ranking.

27%

17%

Organic search traffic

Social Media Users Non-Social Media Users






Before you start integrating social media with your organic search campaigns, record your total inbound traffic from organic search, your organic conversion rates, your target keyword rankings and the number of listings your company receives for target keywords so you will have a starting point to track your progress against. As shown before, ranking may be somewhat affected.

The improved conversion rates we have seen in organic search aren’t limited to organic results. We have also seen significantly higher conversion rates for social media users in paid search.

CHART: PPC CONVERSION RATES BY SOCIAL MEDIA USE

In paid search, our results showed a 25% improvement of PPC conversion rates for those who integrated social and search over those who did not.

The fact that the improvement in PPC conversion rates for social media users is not as great as the improvement in organic conversion rates is probably because of the nature of PPC ads compared to organic search results in general. Many consumers have more trust in organic search results because they know that the sponsored ads are, well, sponsored.

The fact that social media users see higher conversion rates in PPC ads as well as organic listings further supports the concept that the improved brand or product awareness and improved public relations created by social media use results in increased conversion rates.

10%

8%

Paid search traffic







Social media also has shown a dramatic impact on clickthrough rates for PPC ads.

CHART: PPC CLICK THROUGH RATES BY SOCIAL MEDIA USE

Our results show a 100% improvement in PPC clickthrough rate for those who integrated social and search over those who did not. This is the most dramatic improvement we have seen yet and shows that social media can have a great impact on search performance.

Before you start integrating social media with your search campaigns, be sure to take a temperature check on your PPC conversion rates, as well as other PPC metrics like clickthrough rate, cost per conversion, etc. so you have a starting point against which to track your progress.

PERCEPTION IS NOT ALWAYS REALITY. SOCIAL MEDIA’S TRULY EFFECTIVE OBJECTIVES While improving target keyword rankings is a sound objective for any search engine marketer, it is not necessarily the most effective objective for integrating social with search.

Through our research, we have revealed social media’s true benefit to search campaigns. Increased clickthrough rates will bring more traffic to your website, and away from your competitors. Improved conversion rates in organic search and PPC means more leads, more online sales, more email addresses obtained, and more items added to shopping carts at a rate of 25% – 50% more than you would get without integrating social media into your search campaigns.

6%

3%

Average click through rate







BEST PRACTICES IN INTEGRATING SOCIAL MEDIA WITH SEARCH CAMPAIGNS Before you embark on integrating social media into your search campaigns, take a look at your website, blog or other content hub. Do you have a wealth of search engine-friendly, link-worthy content? Without great content, it can be very difficult to get indexed or ranked well by the search engines.

Once you feel that you have a good amount of content, it’s time to start adding social to your campaign.

1. Establish your target audience

Define your target audience and research their social behaviors. What social media sites do they use and what are their public or unspoken rules of engagement? 2. Establish your target objectives

As we have learned, social media can greatly affect your search campaigns by improving clickthrough rates and conversion rates, and can be somewhat effective in improving organic search rankings. Evaluate your own search engine marketing goals to make sure they are in line with these objectives.

If you already have a search engine marketing campaign, you should have a list of target keywords in place. Identify a manageable number of keywords to target with your social media integration for starters. Once you get the hang of it and your social media content begins to get ranked, you will be able to increase the number of keywords you target.

3. Record a baseline

It’s important to have a starting point to measure your progress against. For organic search, record total inbound traffic from organic search, organic conversion rates, target keyword rankings and the number of listings your company receives for target keywords. For PPC, record starting clickthrough rates, conversion rates, and cost per conversion.

4. Develop a plan of action

Choose your social media devices carefully, after plenty of research on your target audience’s social behaviors. Once you choose your devices, allocate resources and set timelines.

5. Optimize and link

Whether it be a blog, a Facebook fan page, or a Linkedin profile, it’s important to optimize your social media content with the target keywords you’ve identified. Use your keywords in profile descriptions, status updates and blog posts.

In addition to keyword optimization, you also have to make sure you have good, relevant, link-worthy content, especially when you’re optimizing for multimedia content like videos, images, slide presentations, etc. Check to see if your multimedia sharing site has options to add title tags and description tags. These tags should be optimized with target keywords as well.

Once your social media content is optimized, you should link back to your site using keyword optimized anchor text.





For PPC, you can test running PPC ads on social media sites directly or indirectly through various affiliate networks.

6. Track and measure

Regularly check in against your baseline performance on traffic, clickthrough rates, conversion rates, rankings and your number of listings to track your success over time.





PART 1 – FIVE KEY TRENDS IN SEARCH AND SOCIAL INTEGRATION SUMMARY

Social media exerts a growing influence on search engine results pages, and marketers who have integrated social media in their SEO strategies are already seeing the benefits. Early movers are attracting more inbound links and claiming more page-one real estate.

We’re diving into the details of social/SEO integration in this two-part Special Report. This installment features five key trends marketers must understand when integrating SEO and social marketing.

Social media generates reams of online content, and search engines are indexing more and more of it. But this explosion of content poses a challenge for search marketers: How do you optimize content you only partially control?

The answer is not to try to control social media, but rather to develop a strategy that takes advantage of the SEO benefits inherent in that content.

Many marketers are already seeing the power of integrating their SEO and social media marketing strategies:

- 69% of marketers using social media score its effectiveness in improving search engine rankings at three or higher on a scale of one-to-five, according to MarketingSherpa’s 2010 Social Media Marketing Benchmark Report.

- Marketers also are successfully using social media for targeted search goals. Below are the percentages of marketers who say social media is somewhat or very effective at achieving specific SEO objectives:

Improving search rankings – 91% Increasing traffic from targeted keywords – 90% Expanding content shown in universal search results – 89% Improving the ROI from search programs – 80% Generating more qualified leads – 78%

"There’s natural relationship," says Craig Macdonald, VP, Marketing and Product Management, Covario. "If you execute good linking strategies when you’re doing content development for social media, then you find you can drive better rankings from an SEO standpoint."

In this two-part special report, we dive into the relationship between social media and SEO. Below, we outline five key trends in social media and SEO that marketers must understand to develop a good social/SEO strategy:

Trend #1. A solid social strategy must come first

It’s important not to put the search cart in front of the social media horse. Developing a clear social media marketing strategy has to come first.

Setting up brand profiles on social networks, adding a forum to your website, starting a company blog – they’re all tactics designed to better connect your brand with your audience. Your primary goals in these channels must be to provide great content, interact with your audience and build relationships.





That said, once you have an established social media strategy, you can develop a range of secondary goals, such as improving website traffic or brand sentiment. Incorporating a natural search strategy should be among those goals.

Kelly Gillease, Director, Marketing, Viator, a worldwide aggregator of travel activities, saw revenue from Facebook traffic in the first half of March increase 130% compared to last year. Page views increased 196%.

However, traffic from social media sites still accounts for less than 2% of all her team’s page views. But they anticipate continued growth and are preparing their marketing, in part, by incorporating target keywords in their social media profiles and updates.

"What we’ve tried to do is set ourselves up well to succeed no matter what the search engines decide to do."

Trend #2. Search engines are increasingly indexing social content

Google and Bing have recently added social data their search packages, with video, images, comments and profiles that originate on social media sites showing up in search results. Bing has a Twitter search feature, and Google has added content from blogs, Twitter updates and Facebook fan pages to some search results and in a separate "updates" search feature.

- Marketers we spoke with agreed on two key points:

These "real-time" searches are in their infancy and drive little traffic Real-time search and other social data will have a growing impact as search engines index more

- In addition to dynamic content, such as comments and updates, search engines are indexing and listing social media profiles in their results.

Marketers with well designed, keyword optimized and updated profiles on networks such as Facebook and Twitter are finding those profiles listed for searches on their general brand names – giving them more ownership of the valuable first results page.

Trend #3. Social media builds inbound links

A key tenet of social media marketing is to provide value, often through great content and interaction. Audiences that receive good content will often link to it, and those links can dramatically improve a site’s natural search performance.

"Our entire interest from a search perspective is almost exclusively on the power of social for link building, which is such a critical part of search performance," says Dan Roberts, Senior SEO Strategies and Analyst, Hearst Digital Media.

Roberts’ team found that repurposing content for social news websites such as Digg and reddit can generate a tremendous number of inbound links. (Read more about using social bookmarking sites in Part Two of this Special Report.)

His team – and several others we spoke with – also notice content highlighted in social networks attracts more attention from audiences, and generates inbound links when people grab the content and share on their own blogs, websites and other locations.





- Most network links are "no follow"

Many social networks links are meant to be passed over by search engines, using the "nofollow" tag in the HTML code. This code means that many social media links, such as Facebook and Twitter updates, will not provide a direct SEO benefit to their destinations.

However, linking to good content in an update calls an audience’s attention to that webpage. The audience can then publish the link elsewhere or share it further in the network.

- Profiles have good links

Robert Holland, Founder, Social Media SEO, an industry blog, says marketers can get SEO benefits by adding relevant URLs to their profiles on Facebook and Twitter.

- Social channels get links out quickly

When dealing with emerging topics, Marshall Simmonds, Chief Search Strategist, New York Times Company, finds his team only has a matter of hours to build link authority.

"In the early phase of a breaking news story, that link equity is doled out, and sometimes that window of opportunity is very small."

The team compensates by pushing hard to ensure content is accurate and that it immediately gets pushed to Google News, Twitter, Facebook and other channels so audiences see it immediately.

Trend #4. Search and social data complement each other

Many of the tools used to monitor social media conversations are keyword driven. Search engine marketing is also keyword driven, and the two channels can benefit from one another’s data.

For example, your SEO keyword research can identify keywords and phrases to use in social media channels to attract more visitor traffic to that content, and to help that content rank well.

Also, analysis of the language customers use to discuss your brand in social media can contribute to your SEO keyword research. Adding social data to keyword research keeps marketers from guessing, Macdonald says.

"Have the consumers tell you how they want to find your brand."

- Measuring brand performance

Also, Macdonald’s team found success using search and social media data to measure the impact of clients’ branding campaigns. After the team launches a major campaign, they can monitor the level of social media discussion and searches around the campaign and brand keywords. They then use the data to help gauge branding impact.

Trend #5. On-site social media is a powerful content generator

Not all of your efforts should be focused on third-party channels like Facebook. Creating a blog or attracting an active community on your website can generate massive amounts of keyword-rich content for your domain.





For example, Matthew Milner, VP, Social Media, Hearst Digital Media, and his team created forums and question-and-answer platforms on the websites for magazines such as Cosmopolitan and Seventeen. The team’s question and answer groups comprise "tens and tens of millions of Q&As," Milner says:

Seventeen’s Q&A content attracts about 30,000 search visits per month That traffic is on track to grow 90% year-over-year

These communities generate content in the exact language of the intended audience, and on topics related to their core interests – because the community chooses the topics. By hosting these communities on their domains, the team’s websites can reap the natural search benefits.





Before engaging in any social marketing tactics, remember that SEO goals must take a back seat to your audience’s experience. Your primary concern when engaging with social media must be addressing customer needs, interacting with your audience and providing good content.

"We design for the customer first and optimize for search second. I don’t want to trade off the customer experience or the effectiveness of what I’m doing just for search," says Dennis Haugan, Senior Director, Digital Marketing, T-Mobile USA.

Within those parameters, however, there are many opportunities to use social media to distribute keyword-rich content and attract links that can boost your natural search rankings.

Here are seven tactics marketers recommend:

Tactic #1. Optimize social media profiles

Your team does not have control over the design of Facebook fan pages or Twitter feeds. You can, however, control the content on those pages.

Make sure all of your social media profiles:

Describe your company using brand keywords Link to your website

Search engines are indexing this content and listing brands’ social media profiles in search results. The links placed in Facebook and Twitter profiles aren’t "nofollow" links, either – meaning they provide link value, according to Robert Holland, Founder, Social Media SEO, an industry blog. Optimizing the content on these profiles can help you get more page-one search results for your brand.

Also, use your brand name for your account name whenever possible, says Kelly Gillease, Director, Marketing, Viator, a worldwide aggregator of travel activities.

"We’ve noticed that if you have a one-to-one match for your brand name and Twitter name, you’ll show up a lot more [in the search results]," she says.

Tactic #2. Use keywords in status updates

Your primary concern when writing status updates should be to address your audience and improve their experience.

But secondarily, you should use keywords that will be indexed by search engines’ real-time search features and build keyword relevance around your social presences.

"Anytime I do a social media post, I try to put in the SEO keywords that [our search director] has determined in her research," says Emily Van Winkle, Social Media Specialist, LeapFrog Interactive. "I always link back to the site as much as possible, and really try to tie the [website and social profiles] together that way."

- Use trend research to target hot real-time search keywords





You can get a glimpse into which topics are hot on the Web through tools such as Google Trends and the "trending topics" list on Twitter Search. Holland regularly scans these resources to identify relevant topics and quickly generate content to help attract searchers, he says.

"Since I write about technology and social media, I identify the phrases that are relevant to technology or search or Facebook or Twitter," he says.

Tactic #3. Closely coordinate your search and social teams

As mentioned in part one of this report, search and social data are complementary. The teams in charge of search and social marketing can benefit from each other’s data and analysis – so make sure the lines of communication are open between the two teams.

- Christy Belden, Search Marketing Director, LeapFrog Interactive, ensures her team’s social specialist, Van Winkle, has updated copies of their keyword lists, and the two marketers communicate regularly. At times, Belden will suggest Van Winkle focus on a specific keyword in her social media activities.

"I always try to put at least one of those keywords in [Facebook updates] if it fits," Van Winkle says.

- Also, make sure your search team is aware of keyword trends identified by your social team’s Web monitoring, as this can aid in search keyword list development.

Tactic #4. Distribute content via social media to build links

Many of the marketers we interviewed emphasized that social media marketing is a great way to generate inbound links. Here are some tactics that have been successful:

- Syndicating content

Marketers who work at publications or other companies that regularly generate content can use social networks to distribute this content to a broad audience and entice followers to share and publish links.

Marshall Simmonds, Chief Search Strategist, New York Times Company, and his team maintain more than 200 Twitter feeds to distribute article links.

"First and foremost we’re trying to reach our audience. Any ancillary benefits and re-tweets are welcome, but it’s not the goal," Simmonds says.

Syndicating links also helps build your audience and expand your reputation, Holland says.

"That reputation is what naturally transcribes into a certain sense of authority in your market, which then transcribes to natural links coming back to your site."

- On-site social sharing tools

Many websites have recently added tools for sharing content through social networks, email and blogs. Adding these buttons to your pages makes it easier for visitors to share your content with their networks.

- Internal linking





On-site social media, such as blogs or forums, can also help improve your site’s internal linking strategy. Encourage your community reps to include links to relevant portions of your own website during online discussions. Also, link your website to your off-site social media presences, and vice versa.

Greg Finn, Director, Internet Marketing, 10e20, suggests putting together a "social page" for your website that collects all the links to your social media accounts.

Tactic #5. Target social news and bookmarking sites

News aggregators and social bookmarking sites, such as Digg and reddit, can generate a rush of traffic and new links for content that receive prominent placement there. These sites allow the community to "vote" on content submitted, and the number of votes dictates the link’s prominence on the site.

Dan Roberts, Senior SEO Strategist and Analyst, Hearst Digital Media, and his team regularly repurpose their magazines’ web content for social news sites. Those links may only make it to the front page of these sites 25% of the time, Roberts says, but the strategy pays off when they do.

For example, the team had a gallery of images on their Good Housekeeping website of pets wearing Halloween costumes. They had enough images to gather them into subtopics, including a "Star Wars" theme.

"Good Housekeeping is not the typical kind of brand that resonates [on sites like Digg]. But if it’s Star Wars, they’ll look at it," Roberts says.

The team built a page to host the gallery and submitted the link to Digg. The strategy worked, and within a week they were ranking well for competitive phrases around Halloween costumes.

"This was going into the Halloween season. It couldn’t be better. This was like a lightning bolt," Roberts says. "A success like this in search means that year-in, year-out, as long as we do things to protect those rankings and keep an eye on that page, it’s going to keep on giving."

Tactic #6. Protect your online reputation

Reputation management is a search and social issue. Your customers talk about your brand in social media, and potential customers find that information through searches. Those searches might be conducted in a traditional search engine, or they might be done on a social site.

Many marketers have already made reputation monitoring a central piece of their social media strategies:

- 89% of marketers using social media are working to improve brand or product reputation, according to MarketingSherpa’s 2010 Social Media Marketing Benchmark Report.

Make sure you’re monitoring online press, conversations and review sites for negative commentary about your brand. When appropriate, reach out to address the complaints and try to resolve the issue on the same page hosting the complaint. That way, visitors who discover a complaint or negative review through search will also see your response.

Tactic #7. Encourage social networking on your website





Your team can add loads of relevant, index-able content to your sites by hosting social features and fostering an online community there. It takes time to build a rich community that regularly posts to forums and message boards, but you can start small and work your way up:

- Create company blogs

Regularly publishing valuable content and responding provide activity around which an on-site community can form.

- Allow comments, ratings and reviews

Adding these features to a site can foster community interaction and generate relevant content.

- Be open to search engines

Not all platforms are designed to be easily indexed by search engines. Make sure your content is clearly visible to the spiders by asking vendors and consulting your search experts.

- Prevent link spam

Make sure your website’s social features are monitored for spam. Also, make sure all external links posted are "no follow," so they provide no search engine value and therefore will be less likely to attract link spammers.





CASE STUDY: EIGHT STEPS TO CREATE A TEAM-AUTHORED BLOG AND REAP SEO GAINS SUMMARY

A company blog is a great way to share your industry expertise with clients, and to create keyword-rich content for search engines. But creating a blog and encouraging multiple authors to contribute can be daunting.

Read how a small consulting firm had nearly everyone in their company contribute to a corporate blog that now accounts for more than 50% of natural search-generated visits. Learn tips on identifying keywords, creating an editorial calendar and setting deadlines. Blogging has become a well-established tactic in the B2B marketer’s arsenal: 70% of B2B marketers said they were writing on a company blog, according to the latest MarketingSherpa B2B Marketing Benchmark Report.

But creating a company blog that integrates with your social media and SEO marketing strategies requires more than just setting up a page and letting writers "have at it."

"We strategized for three months prior to first blog post," says Kenric Van Wyk, President, Acoustics By Design. "We wanted to make sure we weren’t just going to produce a few months of blogs – we wanted to produce an entire year of blogs."

This planning paid off. A little more than a year since its launch, the Acoustics By Design blog now accounts for 53% of natural search visits to the site – creating a powerful new engine for the firm’s already successful SEO strategy. In the process, the content demonstrates the expertise of the company’s eight consulting engineers, who share the responsibility for the blog’s weekly updates.

We spoke with Van Wyk and Thomas Thelen, Client Development Manager, to learn how they developed their blogging strategy and how they corralled eight authors into writing blog posts that meet the firm’s marketing goals.

Here are eight steps that helped them succeed:

Step #1. Establish a goal for the blog

Before developing a detailed production plan, first determine your goals for a company blog. For example, you might want your blog to:

Provide updates on company news Offer commentary on industry trends Share educational or how-to content

Van Wyk and his team established their blog with two primary goals:

- Educate readers about major issues in the acoustical engineering industry, to position the company as a thought-leader. They did not want the blog posts to be excessively self-promotional.

- Create a new source of keyword-rich content to complement their SEO strategy.





Step #2. Develop keyword lists to incorporate into blog posts

A good keyword strategy is essential to generating the biggest SEO impact from your blog. Here are three ways the Acoustics By Design team made sure their blog would provide strong keyword coverage:

- Targeting different types of readers

The team examined its customers to understand who was likely to be reading the company blog. Clients typically include:

Architects Engineers Building owners Audio-visual system designers Attorneys

Each of those groups tends to use different phrases when describing their acoustical consulting needs. The team made sure their keyword lists reflected this diverse lexicon.

- Targeting key industry sectors and types of services

They team also made sure blogging keyword lists reflected different phrases associated with their major industry sectors, such as:

Healthcare Auditoriums Industrial K-12 education Worship

Within those industry sectors, they also made sure to include phrases relevant to the firm’s service offerings, such as:

Acoustic design Acoustic modeling Noise isolation Audio engineering Vibration consultant

- Targeting gaps in their website SEO strategy

Two years before starting the blog, the team had redesigned its website to accommodate an SEO strategy. So when they created the blog, they didn’t want to double-up on keywords and phrases for which the site was already highly ranked.

Instead, they included keywords for which they didn’t already have a webpage. They also looked for secondary phrases to support the website’s primary keywords, such as "doctor’s offices" to supplement "healthcare acoustics."





The result of this process was a list of keywords to incorporate into an annual blog editorial calendar (see below). Some weekly blog posts could include four or five different phrases.

Step #3. Create editorial calendar

With keyword lists established, the team created a full-year editorial calendar to ensure the blog’s content covered all chosen phrases.

- The editorial calendar assigned a different market sector to each week’s post. For example, one week would cover healthcare, the next would cover industrial, and so forth.

- Next, they mapped out a specific topics or service areas to cover within those sector categories.

For example, if the team was planning several posts on healthcare acoustics during the year, they broke down the subject into more specific issues, such as:

MRI noise control Privacy regarding HIPAA regulations

"We schedule posts to really ensure the diversity of content within each market sector and not hit on one particular issue too often," says Van Wyk.

-> Tip: Be flexible to cover hot topics or breaking news

The editorial calendar is a guideline; it doesn’t have to be cast in stone. Van Wyk and his team can swap out a scheduled blog post if there is an important topic in the news or a timely industry issue they want to write about instead.

Step #4. Enlist key team members as blog authors

Having multiple blog authors offers several benefits. This approach lessens the burden on any one person to provide posts each week. It also creates a natural diversity in phrasing and word use, to provide better search-optimized content.

"We started planning for a quarterly-printed newsletter," says Van Wyk. "After I pulled all the knives out of my chest and started talking about doing blogs for which everyone would only need to prepare a post once every 6, 7, 8 weeks, the conversation went a lot better."

The Acoustics By Design team was fortunate to include consulting engineers who were accustomed to creating reports for clients, and therefore were comfortable with writing. As a result, eight out of the company’s ten staffers became blog contributors.

Other marketers might need to be more selective when approaching team members as potential bloggers. If individuals tend to be numbers-oriented or visual thinkers, they might not adapt well to blogging duties.

Once Van Wyk and Thelen identified writers, they let each one study the editorial calendar to decide which topics they wanted to cover.





Step #5. Provide writing guidelines

Although the team’s writers were "pretty good writers to begin with," according to Van Wyk, he still provided writing guidelines to help them with blogging duties.

- The guidelines reiterated the goals of the blog and reminded authors that their work was a form a corporate communication. Contributions could not contradict the company’s overall message or recommendations the firm would provide to clients.

- They also established a 500-word target length for blog posts. Writers were reminded not to create whitepapers or full reports on topics, but rather to provide smaller pieces of information that demonstrate the firm’s expertise and knowledge of the industry.

Step #6. Set generous deadlines

Because writers chose their own topics, they typically knew well in advance of when blog posts were due. But the team also set formal deadlines to accommodate the editing process.

- Blog posts were due from writers one month prior to the scheduled publish date.

- The team incorporated the blog schedule into their weekly workflow meetings to remind authors of deadlines or deal with potential issues that might arise, such as travel plans.

Step #7. Use an editor to polish and optimize posts

The team assigned Thomas Thelen the role of blog editor. His duties included:

Reviewing content for clarity, voice and relevance Reviewing keyword use and placement, adding appropriate keywords when missing Writing title tags and meta descriptions that incorporated keywords Finding images and re-naming them to include keywords Finding appropriate links to other website content

After Thelen’s initial review, along with any necessary revisions by the author, Van Wyk provided a final review of the copy for the others to identify improvements.

The team estimates it takes about five hours to get each blog post up on the site:

Two hours to write Two hours for Thelen to edit and optimize One hour for Van Wyk to review

"It sounds tedious but it’s actually not that tricky and can be kind of fun," says Thelen. "Once you create a plan, you work your plan and your plan works for you."

Step #8. Share metrics, comments and success stories with writers

Although contributing to the company’s marketing efforts – including the blog – is part of every employee’s job description, the team makes sure to praise and encourage blog authors for their work.

- Each author receives a byline on their blog posts.





- The team updates authors whenever a reader comments on their blog posts, or when another site links to their work.

- Posts that generate a lot of attention are included in the company email newsletter, to give them further recognition.

"Everyone loves to see their name in print," says Van Wyk.

EXAMPLE: ACOUSTICS BY DESIGN BLOG





SOCIAL SHARING EXTENDS THE REACH OF EMAIL CAMPAIGNS AND MORE Social sharing is a tactic that allows email recipients to share email content on popular social networks and other social media sites. The concept of integrating email and social media is still in its early stages but has already gained tremendous ground on its predecessor tactic, “Forward to a friend.”

Social sharing initially emerged as a way to extend the reach of email campaigns to new audiences. Today, integration has expanded significantly beyond adding buttons to email campaigns for sharing email content with social audiences. New tactics include:

Highlighting blog content in enewsletters which links to the full content via a landing page. Offering social media channels as an option for receiving enewsletter content via Twitter feeds,

social site notifications, etc.

FORMULATING A STRATEGY FOR SOCIAL SHARING As the following chart shows, 48% of marketers have already integrated the two marketing strategies. That’s a substantial increase of 270% over the 13% of marketers integrating the two tactics the prior year.

CHART: PLANS TO INTEGRATE SOCIAL MEDIA WITH EMAIL CAMPAIGNS THIS YEAR

4%

15%

18%

21%

27%

No, I don't see the value in integrating email marketing and social media

No, but it sounds intriguing

Yes, but we don't know where to start

Yes, we have formulated a strategy and are researching tools for

implementation

Yes, we have formulated a strategy and have already implemented our

integration

Source / Methodology: StrongMail 2009 Marketing Trends / Fielded May-Jun 2009, N=500





SOCIAL SHARING EFFECTIVENESS Initially, marketers believed that social sharing was most effective at achieving soft (not easily measurable) email objectives such as branding. The emerging trend, however, is the realization that social sharing is an effective means for accomplishing measurable objectives like list growth, lead generation and ROI.

CHART: THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SOCIAL SHARING AT ACHIEVING EMAIL MARKETING OBJECTIVES

20%

21%

22%

32%

35%

52%

55%

51%

57%

58%

27%

24%

28%

11%

7%

Accelerate the growth of email lists

Generate more qualified leads

Increase the ROI from email programs

Extend the reach of email content to new markets

Increase brand reputation and awareness

Very effective Somewhat effective Not effective

Source / Methodology: MarketingSherpa Social Media Marketing Benchmark Survey / Fielded Nov 2009, N=2,317





WHY EMAIL NEEDS SOCIAL MEDIA…

CHART: SOCIAL SHARING LEADS YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE IN EMAIL LIST GROWTH TACTICS

…AND WHY SOCIAL MEDIA NEEDS EMAIL

CHART: EMAIL IS THE MOST ACCEPTABLE CHANNEL FOR PERMISSION-BASED MESSAGING

5%

5%

6%

6%

8%

10%

14%

32%

Paid search

In-store displays

Co-registrations

Offline - print advertising

Email append to offline addresses

Mobile capture

Site registrations with incentive

Social sharing

Percentage change 2008 to 2009

Source / Methodology: ExactTarget 2009 Email List Growth Study / Mar 2009, N=351

2%

4%

5%

7%

37%

85%

95%

Messaging via RSS feed

Messaging via social network

Instant messaging

Text messaging

Phone

Direct mail

Email

Source: ExactTarget's Channel Prefernces SurveyMethodology: U.S. Internet users age 15+, Feb 2008, N=1,555





BEST PRACTICES FOR DESIGNING AND OPTIMIZING EMAIL CAMPAIGNS FOR SOCIAL SHARING 1. Make email content relevant and sharable

Include the type of content (videos, photos, etc.) your subscribers are most likely to share with their friends and contacts. Fit elements of the content to be shared with the specifications of targeted sites. For example, limit enewsletter article titles shared with Twitter to 140 characters including a shortened URL.

2. Limit the number of social sharing options

Research shows that limiting the number of social site options increases sharing activity among those used. While there is no magic number of social sharing buttons to include in your email campaign, the average is typically 4 to 5.

3. Prioritize social sites by those used most often

Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are the social sharing icons most frequently used. However, it is more important to include links based on the social sites most often used by your email subscribers and their content preferences.

4. Place social sharing buttons in a prominent position

While the following chart shows that the vast majority of email marketers add social sharing links to the bottom of the message, there is no conclusive evidence to show that one location increased sharing more than another. All link positions saw messages with both high and low sharing rates, although the messages with links located at the bottom had a greater percentage of high share rates.

5. Test to optimize design

Tracking the average share rate by social site, A/B split and other testing methods are required for the optimization and continuous improvement of your designs.

Top12%

Middle5%

Bottom83%

Source / Methodology: Silverpop Email Gone Viral: Measuring Share to Social Performance / N=562 email-social sharing messages





CASE STUDY: HOW SOCIAL SHARING BUTTONS INCREASED EMAIL INTERACTION BY 25% SUMMARY

This year saw a surge in interest for social sharing features, which let subscribers post email content to their social networks. If you haven’t yet added social sharing to your email newsletters, check out this case study from our archives and consider testing the tactic in 2010.

We spoke with a B2B email newsletter publisher to learn how they implemented social sharing this year. The early results showed a 25% boost in reader interaction, and a surge in inbound traffic from social networking sites. Includes tips on:

Choosing the right networks Designing a template Launching the program Measuring results

CHALLENGE

Like most email marketers, Rob Birgfeld, Director, Audience Development, SmartBrief, could not ignore the rise of social media. Subscribers to his team's B2B email newsletters were increasingly asking questions about the value of social networking. And in late 2008, Birgfeld and his team expanded their own social media efforts, through a new email newsletter and blog dedicated to understanding the channel.

The more the team interacted with social media, the more they wanted to create closer ties between their newsletters and those networks – particularly around content sharing.

"We created a blog and Twitter account that started to show some interesting results and value to readers. But our newsletter "share" button was only giving he option to email articles," says Birgfeld. "We realized that for a publication in the social media space, we had to relate to those networks."

CAMPAIGN

The team had followed the development of share-to-social functionality that allowed users to click an icon that automatically uploads a link to their social networking accounts. So they developed a plan to include social sharing as an option alongside their existing button that let subscribers email newsletter articles to their colleagues.

Here are six steps they took to develop their social sharing functionality and measure reader interaction:

Step #1. Identify the most relevant social networks

The team didn’t want to clutter their email design with too many social sharing buttons – especially if those networks weren’t popular among their B2B audience.

"We don’t want a brief to look like NASCAR, with buttons and logos everywhere."





So before adding share buttons, the team identified which social networks were most relevant to their B2B audience:

They sent an online survey to the 80,000 subscribers of their SmartBrief on Leadership, asking them which social networks provided the greatest business opportunities.

The team also examined inbound Web traffic to see where subscribers were already posting article links on social networking sites.

Data from both sources showed that the top three social networks among their newsletter subscribers were:

LinkedIn Facebook Twitter

Step #2. Point shared links to article summary pages

Next, the team established a sharing methodology that was aligned with subscribers’ interests and the company’s goals for reaching a broader audience.

SmartBrief daily newsletters feature a collection links to current news articles related to a specific industry or operational focus, such as Advertising, Manufacturing, Retail and HR.

They decided to place share buttons at the end of each article summary, rather than creating one share button that posted the entire newsletter to a subscribers’ network. That way, subscribers could choose which stories they found most interesting and worthy of sharing.

They also made the share button upload a link to the article summary page, rather than the original source of the story. That way, the team could generate traffic to its own website, and introduce non-subscribers to the value that article summaries provide to their newsletter audience.

"Some would argue that from a user-experience point of view, driving people to a summary is an extra step," says Birgfeld. "But our readers have shown, year after year, that they appreciate the summaries."

Step #3. Use focus group to test new newsletter templates

The team created a few mockups of new template designs that incorporated share buttons alongside the existing email forwarding button. Their goal was to create an understated design that still made it easy for subscribers to share content with their networks.

Then, they showed those mockups to their in-house reader-advisory panel. They asked for feedback on social sharing in general, and asked them whether:

They recognized the icons They had interacted with similar buttons in the past

The majority of readers understood the concept and recognized the icons.





Step #4. Stagger social sharing launch across newsletter titles

With more than 100 newsletter titles on their roster, the team did not want to roll out the social sharing feature to all subscribers without first testing the concept further. Instead, they rolled out the feature gradually to specific newsletter titles.

They first added social sharing buttons to their SmartBrief on Social Media, because they figured there would be significant interest in social networking among that subscriber base.

Next, they added the feature to other SmartBrief-branded newsletters, including SmartBrief on Leadership and SmartBrief on Entrepreneurs.

Shortly after adding the feature to their own newsletters, the team began receiving requests from its trade industry association partners to include the social sharing buttons on co-branded newsletters.

Each time the team added social sharing to a newsletter, they sent a note to those subscribers highlighting the new feature and providing instructions on how to use the buttons.

Step #5. Track shared article metrics

Once buttons were active on newsletters, the team monitored how subscribers were using the feature.

To determine how many subscribers were interacting with the social sharing feature, they tracked how many times users clicked on share button. This metric was easy to calculate, as it was no different than measuring clicks on other links within the newsletters.

Measuring subsequent activity once a user had shared a link with their social networks proved more challenging. But for articles shared to subscribers’ Twitter accounts, the team used its own URL shortening system, which allowed them to track how many times a day their articles were accessed from links that had been posted to the microblogging platform. (The team is currently working on additional technology to help them monitor what happens with a link that’s been shared with a subscriber’s Facebook or LinkedIn network.)

They also measured in-bound traffic from their three featured social networks to help gauge the impact of shared articles.

Step #6. Use sharing data to provide additional content

Social media sharing also became another source of content for newsletter subscribers.

Clicks on social media share buttons became another element that factored in to a "Most Clicked" story feature. The editors of each newsletter compile a list of most-clicked stories – typically on a weekly basis – which are then highlighted on each newsletter’s homepage.

Editors also encouraged readers to provide feedback on specific stories, or to provide suggestions on articles that could be included in future newsletters or the company’s SmartBlog on Social Media.





EXAMPLE: SMARTBRIEF NEWSLETTER

RESULTS

Although the program is still in the early stages, the team is excited by the impact they’ve seen so far.

"It shows innovation, and it shows relevance, because this is what everyone is talking about," says Birgfeld. "For the most part, it’s about visibility and showing the value of your publications, because this is the way people are sharing information with each other."





Overall inbound traffic from their featured social networks increased dramatically. The team compared statistics from the month before launching social sharing to the month after adding the feature and found:

- Visits from Twitter increased 1,680% - Visits from LinkedIn increased 2,070% - Visits from Facebook increased 1,351%

Overall subscriber interaction with newsletter articles also jumped the month after adding social sharing buttons. Users clicking any of the share buttons (Email, LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter) increased about 25% when social networks were included, compared to clicks to forward an article via email only.

85%-90% of the team’s newsletters now include social sharing buttons.

The next step for the team is measuring the conversions (in the form of new subscribers) generated from articles shared to social networks. The SmartBrief on Social Media newsletter attracted more than 17,000 subscribers in five months, with no additional marketing investment. Birgfeld says that much of that growth came from word-of-mouth and visibility within social networking sites through features such as content sharing and the social media blog.

One important task to encourage more conversions for all newsletter titles will be redesigning the article summary pages, which serve as the landing page for links shared to social media sites. Those pages are currently designed for existing newsletter subscribers, and Birgfeld envisions adding content that tells new visitors more about the story summaries and which newsletters they came from.

"I don’t think marketers have a choice anymore," says Birgfeld. "This is the way people are sharing information now, and it’s important to adjust to where your readers are."





CASE STUDY: EIGHT ESSENTIALS FOR USING SOCIAL MEDIA AND EMAIL TO PROSPECT SUMMARY

When Pam O’Neal, VP Marketing, joined BreakingPoint Systems in 2008, the startup network testing-equipment vendor didn’t have a strong brand or established customer base. As a result, she didn’t expect strong results immediately from email marketing or other lead generation tactics.

"You can hardly do email marketing well if you don’t have a recognized and trusted brand name and targeted, relevant content," says O’Neal. "You have to create your content assets, get that content out there and build awareness and trust. With that, you can ultimately be more successful with email marketing."

Following that strategy, O’Neal and her team combined careful use of traditional marketing tactics, such as trade shows and targeted email marketing, with a strong push into social media. They established accounts in multiple channels to distribute thought-leadership content, and engaged in conversations with their prospect base through a company blog, LinkedIn Group, Twitter feed, and other means.

Through continued experimentation, they’ve managed to turn those activities into a flood of inbound Web leads – this January, more than half of their meeting requests came from inbound Web leads. And last year, revenues tripled despite facing the same challenges as most B2B marketers: longer sales cycles, bigger buying committees, smaller prospect budgets.

We asked O’Neal to share the key elements of her team’s marketing strategy, and the lessons they’ve learned as the company grew. Here are the eight essential tactics that have helped BreakingPoint triple its revenues in each of the last two years. Includes advice on:

Coordinating a strategy with the sales team Establishing a social media presence Creating and distributing content Nurturing leads with drip email campaigns

Essential #1. Sales and marketing alignment

Marketing and sales must work together to define a methodology for conducting email and social media prospecting, and to prioritize the most qualified leads that come through those channels.

Here are O’Neal’s tips for achieving sales and marketing alignment:

- Think like sales

Consider what sales people need to do their job better, and what they’re looking for in a lead. Understand the process that takes a prospect all the way through the funnel to close.

However, never act like a sales person when participating in social networks. Don’t even let your sales team act like sales people on social networks. The goal in these channels is to forge relationships, provide education and answer questions – not sell.

- Establish goals and develop plan





You need to coordinate your marketing across traditional channels, such as trade shows, and newer outlets, such as social media. Set goals for many leads you expect to generate through specific efforts.

- Secure sales buy-in

O’Neal garnered buy-in for the social prospecting strategy by showing her sales team the activity taking place on social networks, and the opportunities to connect with prospects through these channels.

"We walked away from one meeting where I think 80% of the sales force had registered for a Twitter account," she says. "They didn’t quite know how to use it yet, but they saw the value."

- Get on same page and stay on the same page

Set standards for how marketing and sales personnel interact online and in social media. Then, stay in close touch with the sales team to check on the progress of leads, answer questions, offer ideas, or even highlight opportunities the sales team might be missing.

Essential #2. A social monitoring system

To begin prospecting in the social sphere, you have to know where your prospects are congregating and what they’re talking about. This requires a monitoring system that can feed you daily updates on relevant conversations taking place around the Web and in social networks.

O’Neal’s team assembled a monitoring system of primarily free tools, such as:

Google Alerts RSS feeds

They established a set of keywords to pinpoint industry news, blog posts, online conversations and activity that fit in two important buckets:

Who’s talking about something we want to talk about? Who’s got a problem we want to solve?

On top of the free tools, the team also uses a paid monitoring tool called BuzzStream, which acts as a social CRM system. When they identify a person writing or talking about a topic related to their services, they can add that person to a database and begin assembling a profile around their demographic information and online activity, such as blog comments or tweets.

The system helps them keep track of:

Social influencers, who can help spread the word about the company Prospects, who they can target for more direct interaction

Essential #3. Prospecting tools

Although the team planned to rely heavily on social media activity to generate inbound Web leads, they also needed basic prospecting tools to help identify and qualify prospects.

Tools they use include:





Salesforce Act-On, a marketing automation platform Jigsaw LinkedIn

The information in these tools helps identify targets for cold prospecting at large, target accounts. Or, they use the tools to augment information around inbound leads, to help prioritize prospects for follow-up.

Essential #4. A content engine

B2B buyers are seeking educational content specific to their jobs and industries. Creating content and sharing it online, in social networks and via email is how you can connect with these buyers and begin a conversation that moves them through the marketing funnel.

O’Neal’s model for a content engine has two parts:

- Content distribution

The team shares their press releases, articles, whitepapers, videos, and other content in as many channels as possible, such as:

Email Twitter RSS Flickr YouTube MarketWire Pitchengine

- Content aggregation

Once the content is out there, the team relies on content aggregators, such as search engines and social bookmarking sites, to put the information in front of a broader audience. Aggregators include:

Reddit StumbleUpon Digg LinkedIn

"Our whole goal with everything we do is to get found – we have sharable buttons everywhere."

To feed that content engine, O’Neal’s small marketing team (three people) relies on the company’s in-house subject matter experts. They work with technical and research teams to develop new types of content, such as:

Blog posts Whitepapers Video interviews How-to guides





They also repurpose content in multiple formats. A blog post can be repackaged into a press release for distribution over the newswires. Then, they might film an interview with the blog author to post on YouTube.

Essential #5. A destination site

All content you distribute, and interactions you have with prospects on social networks should link back to a central hub or destination site.

O’Neal’s team uses their company blog as the destination site for email and social prospecting.

"Our blog is core to the company, strategic for the company, and the face of company," she says. "The rock stars are our CTO and security researcher – they are the folks our buyers want to hear from."

The blog also offers other advantages as a destination site:

SEO through long-tail keywords Continually updated, relevant information Navigation options and tagging to serve visitors relevant content

Rather than use an off-the-shelf blogging system, O’Neal’s team developed their own blog platform to ensure the site could meet their content categorization and navigation needs. For example, if a visitor to the blog searches for information related to a certain topic, such as firewalls, the blog also will serve relevant offers around that topic such as upcoming events, how-to guides, whitepapers, etc.

Essential #6. Company social network presence

If the blog is the hub, then the company’s accounts on host of social networks are the spokes. O’Neal’s team established a presence on sites such as:

LinkedIn Twitter Facebook YouTube FriendFeed

"Go where your audience is," says O’Neal. "You don’t necessarily have to have them on your website to have it be a meaningful conversation."

Her tips for creating and managing a company social presence:

Reserve all brand names now, before someone else does Create pages or accounts for your company and your major products Provide templates for employees to create their own pages Create and administer customer or peer groups within networks Start a group around an industry event (if the hosts haven’t already) Actively participate by answering questions, starting discussions, sharing relevant educational

content – no self-promoting Bolster online relationships with face-to-face meetings, such as Tweetups, or scheduling lunches

with local members of your social networks





EXAMPLE: BREAKINGPOINT EMPLOYEE LINKEDIN TEMPLATE

Essential #7. A ready, willing and enabled sales team

Handing off a lead that has been nurtured through social media will go more smoothly if the sales rep is versed in the same social prospecting tactics.

O’Neal’s group helps the company’s sales team establish their own profiles in social networks, and gives them the content and tools they need to spread the company’s message.

"They are the face of company, they ought to be armed for battle." For example, they created a LinkedIn template that BreakingPoint sales personnel can use, which features:

Essential company messages to include in their profile information Sales-enablement content, such as customer use-case presentations Monthly webcast promotions to add to their activity listings (LinkedIn is one of the top three

sources of registrations for those events)

Additionally, the team provides a "Sales Playbook" to outline the rules of engagement on social media, such as:

No selling allowed in the LinkedIn group No badmouthing competitors

Essential #8. Email drip marketing

The goal of the team’s wide-net social prospecting is to attract visitors to their blog and website and then capture an email address – through online registration – to begin targeted, drip marketing campaigns.

"The email connection gives you that semi-permanent link – or at least far more permanent than a Twitter connection," she says. "It’s way to get in front of that person and keep yourself relevant."





The team’s automated drip marketing campaigns are targeted to a prospect’s interest area, based on their online behavior and activity. Here’s an example of how it works:

- A company thought-leader is interviewed in an industry publication. The end of the interview includes a link to connect with that person through LinkedIn.

- A prospect reads the article, and requests a connection with company thought-leader on LinkedIn.

- The connection is accepted and the team sends an automated email inviting them to join their LinkedIn Group.

- Once in the group, the team can send daily or weekly email communication with that prospect, depending on their preference.

Other drip marketing campaigns customize information based on different data, such as:

Search keyword(s) that brought the prospect to the website Topic of whitepaper or other piece of content downloaded from the site

As the team delivers these email messages, they use marketing automation software to monitor which actions they take, and where they go on the company website, to further customize communications.

"Our follow-on communications are far more targeted, offering resources that are right in their cross-hairs to educate and continue to build the relationship."


integrating social-media-the-right-way

Social Media

social media coverage

traditional media

media outlets

global media database

social networks linkedin

marketing purposes

leading brand

brand pages