Web-Savvy Seniors? 65+ boomers ARE online

via emarketer.com

Seniors are NO slouches. And baby-boomers participate in a variety of ways, and at different levels of participation, many of them spectators, while a few of them creators and/or critics.

But they certainly are a savvy group, and if you want to tap into the groundswell, see Forrester Research for more info on this fascinating area.

It appears from the research that most of the respondents of the study have e-mail, followed by shopping online and looking up health/medical information.

Savvy seniors information gatherers, and if they are looking for information, what better way than to tap in, with an understanding of how they use the medium? The research is out there, and still growing!

What are your thoughts?

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How to get more attention with your social media messages - 4 Tips

Get more attention with your social media marketing messages?

La la la la I'm not listening! Just think of fighting that uphill attention battle every time you want to be heard in “free” social medium forums. There is more clutter now than ever, and people are going to get savvier at learning how to filter out the noise.

Do you Tivo/DVR? Get frustrated when opening up a video and seeing a pre-roll advertisement? People will continue to look for VALUE, and will get better at being able to search for relevant content. Here are tips to help you break through and get people to really want to listen:

1. Headlines - Extra! Extra! Read All About It!
There is a definite art to headlines, and to tweets that grab attention. Guy Kawasaki is a master, and Personal Branding Expert Dan Schawbel is another - if you don’t believe me, just check out their twitter feed, better yet, follow them, and you will see that the reason you should click through is apparent RIGHT AWAY. If it’s a REPORT, OPINION or ADVICE, I know if I should bother finding out more. They saved their audiences time, and it is definitely appreciated. Be open and honest (transparent) as to what VALUE someone will find and people will be more likely to NEED to find out more.
2. What’s your hook song, or first track?
If you’ve ever bought an album, you know that the opening track has to really grab your attention for you to feel the rest of the album is worth your time listening. Same thing with your social media content - Don’t give people a chance to shut you out too soon. If you’ve got a very relevant piece of content for your target audience, think of what part of your content is going to be catchy enough to make them want to keep listening!
3. Keywords, people!
On a social media project recently, I was assigned the task of broadcasting social media content across a wide variety of platforms. Problem was, in order for me to broadcast it, I’d have to rewrite most of the headlines, so I’d have to take time looking through a lot of content to feel if I could put my own brand on the line by broadcasting it. The professionally produced video content, I felt was valuable information, but hidden beneath rather weak descriptions. Don’t make any effort you have wasted, especially with professionally produced content like video, or even a blog post you took time writing - think of it as your front door!
4. How Tos and Tips
It has been found that tweets most likely to get retweeted contain the phrases “How To” and “Tips.” People want to know how they can learn how to do something better, or even just how to do something period. And tips, well, by breaking this blog post down into four easy to digest chunks, you could quantify right away how many tips you were in for. There are too many decisions we all have to make as technology makes life ubercomplicated. If we can save each other the trouble, it makes life so much easier, and gets people to want to listen that much easier.

Isn’t that what this is all about? Please help me by sharing your comments and suggestions with me on these tips, and thoughts on others you’d like to know more about. Thanks!

What's in Your Social Media Fridge? Can You Easily Find a Snack?

via salestores.com

Yesterday I presented a private social media/online marketing class. It is always awesome to learn what's most important to people - it's very unique for every individual.

Just like you don’t take out all the contents of your refrigerator when you want to get a quick snack, you have to know what you want to want, and what tools will work best for you. A lot is trial and error, I admit. I have found a lot of content in the area of social media, newsletters, RSS feeds, and bears OH MY.

But over time, I found what was most useful and relevant for me to share as news items on LinkedIn, in my blog, or on twitter.

So you make a list of what you want to buy right, right? What are you going to digest and eat in your social media house?

Then you go shopping. Load the fridge with your frequently grabbed snacks right to the front (my hootsuite for twitter, and netvibes and google alerts for my inputs…).

Then you open these packages on a daily basis to grab a tasty morsel.

So, my big tip for the day is to find out what content you want to share with your network, and a way to receive it on a daily basis. Do you prefer e-mail? Sign up for a newsletter. Do you prefer an RSS feed? Try Google Reader, Netvibes - whatever works for YOU. But find the content, and then start sharing and commenting.

If you want to have a voice online, you’ve got to have something to say. Now all you have to do is go find the content and make sure you keep those packages in the front of the fridge, so you don’t have to tear it up from top to bottom to find it. Now go find the people who want to hear it and be part of the conversation!

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VIDEO: The Future of Social Media/Networks - Charlene Li:: SXSWi 2009 Groundbreaking!

via youtube.com

Had to share this video (nicely edited), from a recent conference in Austin.

Charlene is a brilliant thought leader, and I am captivated by her work (and Josh Bernoff!). on Groundswell, which has transformed my thinking as a traditional marketer to leveraging social media for developing relationships, because it's all about ka-ching for business. Listen to her statement in this video on just that - it's not about "Kum Ba Ya." I laughed out loud.

To think of how much more important open ID will be in a world that has social media more integrated -"like air," was thought-provoking. It will be more important to standardize so that we can connect wherever we are. Social media will truly be a part of our every day lives.

And businesses must continue to learn all they can about it or be left behind.

Love the video - enjoy!

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Social Media Marketers Sidle Up to the Female Blogger Bar?

Marketers Court Female Bloggers - eMarketer

Marketers want to head on over to the social media cocktail party and join the conversation. At this Bar, there's no cover charge, no age minimum (more than likely), and no last call. I love articles that challenge thinking, so you can be smart about preparing a social media plan. Read the rest of my blog post, and then click through on the image above to take you to the latest eMarketer article.

I share this with you as it struck a chord with me. Yeah, I guess I'm a female blogger, but also because as a marketer, I understand it's critical to understand your audience before your plan a strategy to communicate with them. But even moreso, HOW are they using the social media space? That's a virtual world all its own, as it's consumer generated content, and conversation that makes it so valuable.

If your market includes mommy bloggers, know that not all female bloggers fit that bill. We women aren't all the same, nor are all males, and our purchase behaviors and the way we choose to live our lives is based on our own unique experiences and values. But you can work with this, if you just know something about them, and what kinds of social media they are taking part in already. That's where research and monitoring comes in handy, particularly in the area of social media usage.

But if you are an organization that is fortunate enough to have communication with a female audience already, you're ahead of the game. You've got an audience that is ready and waiting for you - now all you've got to do is have a plan.

I share this article that has valuable research provided by ShesConnected, BlogHer, iVillage and Compass Partners, based on studies done with a sample of over 1,500 women, with a wide range in age (18-77), about weekly social media participation, conducted by the US Census and Nielsen.

Women bloggers are more than willing to help marketers out when it makes sense to do so.

40% said they provided marketers with information collected on their blogs.

53% said they would consider doing so if asked.

If you really want to help fill a NEED, (as use marketers strive to do), whatever part of the mix it may be (direct, e-mail, display), then understanding your audience is crucial.

Traditional marketing research (focus groups) have been used successfully for years. Now your focus group wants to hear from you - they're waiting at the bar. Bartenders aren't shy and are usually good at conversation, adding value for your what could have been lonely cocktail/brewski.

What do YOU have on tap?

Let's tap in!
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Stop Collaborate and Listen - Social Media Marketing and Vanilla Ice??

via infrastructurist.com

Not to say that Vanilla Ice is a guru in the digital marketing area, but we CAN take a lesson from this song’s opening line (Ice, Ice, Baby) - “Stop, collaborate and listen…”

Yeah, that’s pretty much all we can take from him in online marketing tips…but I think it is a strong opening statement for anyone who wants to test the waters in developing a social media marketing strategy.

I believe that social media should be included as a part of a total marketing mix, which should have multiple channels for maximum effectiveness, reaching your audience however they are using media. But wait, even if you know what media they are using, do you know HOW they are using it? When I worked in radio, I would need to break down listenership into day parts. HOW were the listeners (that matched the particular demo/psychographic that an advertiser wanted to reach) USING the medium? Were they loyal to a particular program, then that might be where you would want to apportion some of the budget? Were they listening on the web? It was very important for my success as an account manager to understand how the audience was using the medium to maximize my client’s ROI so that the message was most likely to reach them. And analytics were crucial for me to understand that, regularly researching Arbitron data.

There are many tools available for online marketers to understand how their audience is using the online space. And it seems that new technologies are popping up every day - Google Analytics is widely popular in tracking the web usage of your site and seeing how people are using it, but you can also track trends on twitter (In a previous post, I discussed another valuable tool, Twitalyzer).

Ok, now you STOPped. Once you know HOW your audience is using social media, then you need to LISTEN. Collaborate with and listen to your audience. They will tell you what they want. And I don’t mean getting them to step aside from the space they are happily using and involved with their community, but I mean track the trends WITHIN their communities. Online surveys are a great tool, but if you have the opportunity to see how they are interacting with each other in their space, and maybe putting a poll in every now and then, how much more valuable is that - and in REAL time.

And in the days (almost 7 years!) when I was a jazz vocalist running my own business, it was CRUCIAL for me to understand what my fans wanted to hear. What places did they like to go to, so I could to some B2B and book venues for them to come. What headshot did they want me to use for my press efforts - yes, they even helped me choose a photo, from 6 images on a hidden page on my website in a private survey. And that photo had a major return for me, because I knew this was how my audience wanted to see me represented. What better marketing research is there, then one conducted with your own audience!

Don’t discount the value your customers can offer you if you just take a moment to STOP, COLLABORATE and LISTEN. Then you can effectively plan your social media strategy, and pretty much all your digital marketing efforts. Be appreciated for adding VALUE to the conversation. Your audience will let you know, if you just take a moment to let them know you want to hear them. They’ve got a LOT to say!

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SEO and Social Media - Video Tip #3

This video touches on a couple of points from my previous post on SEO and Social Media two days ago. I'm loving the Web 2.0 tools that allows us to all create and share content with each other. Let me know your thoughts and what tips you might find
valuable for your own social media efforts - love to hear from you!

Your Customers' Social Media Habits - Forrester Web 2.0 Tool takes a peek inside

Wrapped up reading Groundswell, by Charlene Li of Forrester Research and Josh Bernoff, I am also a subscriber to the Forrester blog, it's always great to learn from thought leaders who can help us all be successful in a world transformed by social technologies. The world really is flat, and we all have tools and technologies to bring us together to connect.

But we're also fortunate to have great tools to help us learn how to be better at connecting. And learning about our audiences and how they CHOOSE to connect.

This is a really neat Web 2.0 tool (whose code was made very easy to embed!!), and I thought it was a fun, interactive way to see that people really ARE different when it comes to social media, and why we are there in the first place. I guess no matter how much technology we have, we'll always still be human enough to make our own choices, and very unique ones at that! Enjoy and let me know what you think. Love to hear!

SEO and Social Media - Six Tips to Optimize

via crozerlibrary.org

As budgets shift from traditional marketing/advertising efforts to digital, if companies don’t embrace SEO in a holistic strategy, they’re leaving a potential audience member out there unable to find them, and that’s very impactful on ROI. Do you want to enhance your social media efforts? How do you do that? Did you search today for SEO or Social Media? Somehow we found each other, and I’m pretty sure it had something to do with search.

To understand the true power of the internet, it’s critical that you understand how its engine runs - SEARCH. The fuel this engine requires isn’t diesel - it’s keywords, and SEO. Going back to my school days, I remember doing research and having the librarian bring me to the card catalog section (WOW, did I just date myself or what?) Well, you pretty much get the idea, that in order to find some information source, before the world wide web took really took off (imagine a world pre-Google, huh?) information was catalogued in alphabetical order and assigned a number, typed on these little cards in LONG drawers. So it was a multiple step process. And it always seemed the card that you needed with information on where to find the BOOK that had the information you were looking for was in the BACK of the drawer. Then to separate the tiny cards and read the number, you had to pull out and carry that long box with you to some table. Then you would have to put that LONG drawer back and then go and find the book somewhere. WOW. And microfiche? Ok, let’s not even go there - I think I’ve made my point.

So, now we’ve got this monster machine - a monster truck, if you will. And the fuel its engine requires is compelling content that is SEO friendly. So people can find you EASILY without having to pull out a long wooden drawer with tiny cards. So here are five tips to make your social media campaigns more impactful. You are fortunate to have the power to track the metrics with online tools, to see how people may land at your blog, website, facebook page - the tools are there for you, and you can always seek to improve not just your content, but the searchability of your campaigns with thoughtful and strategic use of SEO:

1. Find out where your audience is.
You have an amazing opportunity to understand not only basic demographic information , but also lifestyle (psychographic) data such as their preferences, their preferred methods of publishing, behaviors and more. If you are a company (or an individual!) that is already involved some way in social media, you have a good idea where you can start. You can track the conversations, and identify keywords and also influencers (Please see my previous posts on web analytics tools that track powerful metrics, including Radian6 and Twitalyzer).

2. Add relevant keywords to your title and ads.
ESPECIALLY if your marketing efforts are tied to a revenue stream that is closely tied to PPC. Maybe you have a facebook ad campaign, where you can buy by CPC (clicks) or CPM (impressions). Or maybe you’re a blogger who wants to drive more traffic and build audience. And wouldn’t it just tie all together if you were a blogger who had a Google Ad campaign with revenue reliant on SEO? SEO and PPC are so closely tied together because it’s the search that will bring the potential customer to you or an ad will come to them because they were searching for a particular keyword.
I always try to take into consideration that people are pretty tight on time. Not only do people cut back in the way they spend their dollars, but also valuable, and to some maybe moreso, TIME. So to best illustrate this example, do you subscribe to an RSS feed, and maybe a few of them, and do a quick scan for the relevant keywords? So take a look at before: “Do you want to know how to optimize your social media campaigns?” and after: “Five Tips on SEO to Improve Your Social Media Campaigns.” By adding SEO to the title, I can engage people who are searching for that and invite them to join the conversation. Even further, now you know it’s just five tips and won’t take up too much of your time, so you can get back to YOU.

3. Optimize your word placement.
So I take you one step further, taking a look at step 2, with relevant keywords included, I can now bring those keywords from before: “Five Tips on SEO to Improve Your Social Media Campaigns” to after: “SEO - Optimize Your eMarketing/Social Media Campaigns - Five Tips.” Doing this will drive your search engine rankings higher

4. Get to the point.
It’s not WHAT you say, it’s how you SAY it. It’s just my marketing nature to know that people pretty much need to know WHY they need to listen to what you have to say. And if you’re lucky to be able to have a persuasive enough reason, then you can invite the conversation and convert. And the best thing that can happen is that they will bring their friends. It’s a happy marriage, but people don’t want to give you their time in the online “clutterverse.” I believe people truly want to do good, but it’s human nature to find the easy way out, and don’t have the time to focus their attention on what you have to say, unless you make it as easy for them as you can to get your message across in a nanosecond. Then you can invite them on in. Compelling content creation is an art, and it takes years of refinement - luckily, there are a lot of us that share free content for you to be able to see what the hot topics are, how they’re being shared. You have to have a love for a lifetime learning, and being thankful that you don’t have to go to the back of the card catalog to find it!

5. Go beyond text with pictures.
Not all search engines are the same. There are those that are human-powered and reliant on information being indexed and catalogued, but there are crawler-based search engines that use automated software (crawlers) that checks sites for relevant information and deposits it into some central depository, where its data is indexed. Every crawler is different, based on what its administrators have it do, and how often it periodically returns to sites to see what has changed.
If you are driving people to your website, then you should have some understanding of HTML code and metatags. And every one of us has the ability to drive up our rankings by using relevant keywords in the source code, and also the description of web PICTURES. Ever seen a Google Images search? If you have been surprised at the pictures that pop up when you search for a particular keyword, then you can bet is was the description in the code behind the scenes that drove up its ranking!

6. Keep it current.
So if you want to optimize the way people reach your content and especially your PPC/CPM ad campaigns, you owe it to your audience to keep up to date with a finger on the pulse of hot trends, ever-emerging technologies, by subscribing to industry alerts, enewsletters, blogs, and relevant online communities. How did this information come to you? It wasn’t by accident, I bet it was SEO in your social media efforts. And you have an ever-growing bag of tools to help you optimize. And no more card catalogues!

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