How do you teach social media marketing? I’ve got the answer!
You find the guy that does it best near where you live. Then, you ask him to create and teach a class on it.
That’s what I did about one year ago. Brandon Uttley knows social media marketing. He has a background in public relations and works for one of the smartest and best marketing agencies in Charlotte. He lives one town over from me.
So as you can imagine, I was pretty thrilled that he was willing to work with HIPPO Internet Marketing to provide a repeatable class that teaches how to effectively use Facebook and Twitter. He does not just teach how to build an audience. He takes it to the next level and teaches how to market effectively to your audience.
This is the only class we teach that has two instructors. Now that we’ve taught it a few times, Brandon and I (Corey Creed) enjoy taking turns teaching. I always enjoy it because I can always learn from Brandon. I’m not kidding. He knows his stuff.
So how is your social media marketing going? Are you using it effectively? Or do you sometimes feel like it is using you?
Our next class is coming up quick. I hope you’ll join Brandon and I. For two days, we’re not just using social media. We’re going to teach social media MARKETING!
Late last week, we held another SEO class here at Hippo Internet Marketing Training. The new room we are using right here at my office has really come together and works great.
The SEO students came from a wide variety of backgrounds and had some excellent questions.
They seemed to enjoy the class. In fact, the night it ended I got this email from a local Mooresville web developer that attended…
Dear Corey,
I just wanted to drop you a little note to let you know that I am 100% satisfied with the content covered within your search optimization class and the way in which you went over it.
You outlined the material in a significant and relevant way as we would need to understand the main elements or “best practices revealed”. Your Question and Answer Sessions were incredibly insightful!
The resource book you provide is a very detailed and helpful tool which we’ll all be able to refer back to throughout our Internet marketing careers. I especially love the way you remind us to keep the users in mind as we do our improvements and not focus on trying to get over the search engines. Fact is, we are not trying to get a robot to buy our client’s product or service, but an actual person.
Another thing I would like to commend you on is your hospitality. Your class was in a very comfortable setting, with a comfortable amount of people (not overcrowded) and beverages and snacks were an added treat! You have made the whole learning experience very enjoyable and I look forward to the opportunity to attend more of your classes.
Tonight I had the pleasure of attending the “Charlotte Region’s 2010 Marketing Forecast”. It was held at a hotel in Charlotte and was sponsored by several local organizations, including the AAFC, BMA, CAMA, CDMA, CIMA, IABC, and PRSA.
The panelists were:
Jennifer Appleby, President & CEO of Wray Ward
Ronnie Bryant, President & CEO of Charlotte Regional Partnerships
Michael Burch, VP of marketing at Speedway Motorsports Inc
Sara Garces, Owner & CEO of Red F Marketing
Craig Nadler, VP Marketing for the Carolinas, AT&T Mobility
* Ritch Allison, Partner at Bain & Company, Atllant
* = Moderator
Each local association introduced their organization and one of the panelists. So the introductions alone are taking about a half hour.
I had the pleasure of sitting at the same table with a couple people from Lyerly Agency. (Good people.)
We’re starting with some overview comments by each panelist…
JA – She is energized by the good turnout. (I am loosely counting about 200 attendees here.) She says that this past year we have never worked so hard to make so little money. Everyone seems to agree. She is excited about the new tools available and feels 2010 will be about elevating to a new level of creativity and using the new tools. “New Media” is no longer new.
RB – He markets the local area to businesses nationally and internationally looking to move here.
MB – He explains that a local company recently invested in a local marketing company. They spent $40K and made $400K. So marketing is working.
SG & CN – Added other positive comments.
RA – (Moderator) Showed some slides about the current economy. Here are some highlights…
This is the first time we have had a GLOBAL economic problem. Global GDP growth is negative. That will not completely get back to normal until 2011.
Household income growth will remain weak for another year. Unemployment was huge in the last 18 months. This first quarter is showing improvement but it will take several years to recover.
This year will have very slow growth. Outside capital will be difficult to obtain.
The opportunities? Growth tends to be slower, but stable. Like curves on a racetrack, economic turbulance creates more opportunities for passing others. Similar to racing, slowing down into the curve sets up the best opportunity to accelerate out of the curve.
His advice?
Stay on track
Anticipate unpredictable curves
Pass with prudence
Tune the innovation engine
Strenthen teaming skills
Mobilize a winning crew
More specifically, regarding marketing…
Build cross platform campaigns
Align spend with strategy and target customers
Set very clear marketing objectives
Continue to innovate and try new approaches to reaching your customer
Measure effectiveness and invest where returns are highest
Establish marketing based on ROI
Now we turn back to the panelists.
What about Charlotte, specifically? RB says there is a world of difference here in Charlote. We have never in this region stopped having announcements of businesses moving here. This region is solid. The physical aspects of the benefits of this area did not change in the down economy. The weather is great. We are centrally located to the rest of the country. We have the 9th busiest airport in this country.
JA says there is a lot of mommentum in moving to Charlotte and that is getting national publicity. It is getting easier to recruit creative individuals.
MB says out of chaos comes opportunity and the current situation challenges us.
How have consumers changed? CN (from AT&T) says we have seen that deep discounts are now the norm, especially in holiday season spending. People also spend at the very last minute. People are looking more toward integrated devices like iPhones. Data minutes are getting much larger than voice minutes. Mobile is gaining stregth over land lines.
SG says consumers have drastically changed their mobile phone behavior. It is the new touchpoint from a marketing standpoint. You NEED to be thinking about how you can reach people on their mobile devices. The phone is becoming the TV and Computer. (AMEN! You said it. I agree 100%. We’ve heard it before, but this year really is the year of the mobile phone computer.)
She adds that hispanics are a consumer group that is best reached via mobile. Other traditional pieces are important as well.
MB adds that people are looking for value. Sports fans in particular are still responding and spending, but they want the best value. Many people wait until the weather comes out before buying. They need to incentivise those that buy early. There are still dollars to be had. But you have to give deals to the early buyers and allow buyers to purchase at the last minute.
JA adds that the consumers are changing the rules. They DEMAND value. They determine how they want to be communicated to, not the marketer.
RB says that decisions by consumers are determined by cost now more than ever. So businesses must cut costs and provide value.
How do you communicate value? How does it change your marketing message? MB says he spends time educating consumers. As marketers, our responsibility is educating the consumer. Best value is not lowest cost. We spend time educating people and showing how we are different and not just a commodity. We spend a lot of time on that.
SG says her businesses are spending their marketing dollars educating consumers. Consumers expect that. They know they can compare companies. They don’t have to leave their home, just use Google. At the end of the day, all businesses want to know the ROI from their agency.
What about media? What is your view of Social Media? JA says it is a revolution. It is here to stay. It will always be part of the marketing mix. Services like Twitter will lead, but may die out. Customers are ringing the phone off the hook to determine how to use it.
Social media is the next evolution of word of mouth. It used to be that experiences were shared with their family and friends. Now they share with the global economy. Social media is somewhat sexy to marketers, but it really is here to stay. Companies need to embrace it. Don’t just dip your toe in it. That will be a Pandora’s box. You need to do it full force and be committed to it.
MB says that social media is just tools to have dialogue with customers. Don’t be cheesy. Be meaningful. At some time that relationship will monetize itself. It may not directly monetize and provide ROI.
JA says the ability to listen is fantastic. She says: Our Social Media expert at Wray Ward calls it “Word of Mouse”. (Hey Brandon Uttley, that’s MY LINE!! You got that from ME!) She adds that companies are expected to respond. So if you get involved, be prepared to listen and reply.
JA is being asked which companies use Social media effectively? Is B2C the only businesses that it works in? She’s giving good answers. She says her customers are asking for it. She is clearly very proud of her “social media expert”. Go Brandon!
MB chimes in. He admits that he is a dinosaur, but is not convinced that Social media is worth the time. (Don’t laugh. He’s got a point there.)
SG says social media is good but (somewhat mockingly) we are not seeing any “VP of Facebook and Twitter” titles yet. CN says that if you do it, you get powerful feedback. The entire organization needs to be on board. She also says that highly regulated companies really need to be careful with what they say online on social media.
JA adds that many businesses are afraid to give consumers that opportunity to take over their brand. It is a tough thing to do for many.
What about new media. Is print dead? CN says print is not dead – yet. It needs to evolve or it may go that way. The Internet changes what media needs to be. MB says print may be dead but reading is not. (That sounds obvious, but it’s a good point.)
That seems to be the end of it all. Thanks to all the panelists and organizations that sponsored it. Very nice program.
As I mention in the beginning of all my Internet Marketing classes, Search Engine Marketing (both SEO and PPC) is a completely different form of marketing. It’s different than most anything we’ve ever known.
Other forms of marketing and advertising tend to interrupt. Television, radio, magazines, newspapers, and billboards all interrupt in one way or another. They all blast their message at you, whether you want it or not.
Search engines are different.
With Search Engine Marketing (SEM), the customer blasts us. They tell us what they want. It is reverse broadcast marketing. We just need to be at the right place at the right time.
To illustrate, Search Engine Marketing is more like farming than hunting. If you build good sites and links, your customers will come to you. You don’t need to find them and hunt them down any more.
What about Social Media?
It’s different. It’s more… well… social! Many compare it to being at a party. People may mention that they are wanting something. They may even ask others for advice. But that is just a small part of what they are saying. They don’t expect to be directly sold on something.
Along comes real time search!
So now, Google is taking content from Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, and putting these comments into search results. Does that mean that if you want to do well with Search Engine Marketing, you need to be all over social media? It may seem so.
But not so fast. Let’s think about this.
For WHICH results is Google showing social media results? If you type in direct queries for services or products, what will Google show? Typically, they will show their paid and natural listings. Sometimes they show local or news results.
But for services and products, they will seldom show real time (social media) results.
When do they show up?
They only show up for subjects that are being talked about a lot. Don’t believe me? Over the past few weeks, real time results show up for “Tiger Woods Mistress” and “Google Nexus One Phone”. They typically won’t show up for “Charlotte Dentist” or “Wii game” or “Internet Marketing Training”.
Sorry Social Media Experts…
I believe in using social media. After all, I teach a two-day class with Brandon Uttley on it. But Google’s real time search does not validate the value and need to do social media.
Use social media to network, build awareness, and communicate.
But don’t expect Google to send potential customers to Twitter or Facebook. They’d rather have your customers click on the Google listings (especially the paid ones).
There seemed to be a lot of negative news in 2009. Businesses struggling, people out of work, homes foreclosing, banks struggled, and the Dow plummeted for a while.
But there is one positive comment I am consistently hearing from many of my colleagues and clients. They say that they are happy to still be in business.
At first that may sound negative. But many of my clients and colleagues have cut costs and just hung in there for 2009. That’s basically what we did. We did not see the financial growth that we had the previous few years. But we are happy to still be in business and hanging in there.
After all, In certain industries, the harder you try to make more sales, the more frustrating it can get. If the potential customers in your industry are not looking to buy, you can’t make them.
So what should you do?
I know what we did. We built our online equity.
What does that mean?
In the physical world, people and businesses build equity by buying real estate, tools, etc. In the online world, we did something similar. We updated and built out our content. We grew our newsletter list and social media followers. Building online equity is not expensive. It’s time intensive.
Most importantly, we added a new additional e-commerce site. It may not be making much money yet. But as it continues to rank and we continue to refine it, we have high hopes. When and if our target industry picks up, we’ll be ready for it.
I hope you were able to build your online equity in 2009. If you didn’t, are there things you could do now?
After all, the economy is likely to start turning again before too long. Why not use this time to be more ready than ever?
I’d love to hear your comments below. Are you happy with the way you and your business handled 2009?
That’s what I did about one year ago. Brandon Uttley knows social media marketing. He has a background in public relations and works for one of the smartest and best marketing agencies in Charlotte. He lives one town over from me.
This is the only class we teach that has two instructors. Now that we’ve taught it a few times, Brandon and I (Corey Creed) enjoy taking turns teaching. I always enjoy it because I can always learn from Brandon. I’m not kidding. He knows his stuff.