PR and marketing

Measuring the value of social media with Tracey Brown

With growing numbers of Australian businesses using social media, the need to measure the effectiveness of social media activity is becoming increasingly important.

Surprisingly, many businesses do not measure the effectiveness of their social media activity, or they’re unsure what to measure or where to start.

Tracey will discuss the importance of measuring social media activity by looking into how success can be defined and measured using simple tools.

She will explain how to get the most out of your social media measurement tools, how to measure the success of a social media campaign and what the future holds for social media measurement.

About Tracey:
Tracey Brown has worked in online for over 15 years, from Westpac eBusiness, to co-founding Tipping Point in Sydney, before moving to London as Head of Digital for Schroders. She also held a global online CRM role for Vodafone Group.

Now back in Sydney, Tracey co-founded eMarketingConnected in December 2010.

Her breadth of experience ranges from online strategy, strategic email marketing, social media strategy, benchmarking and optimisation strategies, to user experience definition and content strategy.

Tracey has delivered workshops and training programmes in USA, Asia, Sth Africa, UK & Europe. She also conducts events and workshops for clients and members.

Tracey’s company eMarketingConnected has recently produced a comprehensive report on the social media activities of Australia’s 500 largest organisations, ‘How the Largest Australian brands use Social Media’. The company has also produced other reports such as ‘Why The Largest Australian Retailers Are Losing The Online Battle’ and ‘How Are Australian Brands Using Facebook’.

Twitter: @traceybrown74

Please note: This month's Social Media Women is being held on the FIRST Tuesday of the month as the second Tuesday falls too close to Easter.

A not to be missed event - learn about the importance of measuring your social media activity by using simply tools.

LUCKY DOOR PRIZE - You could win a corporate headshot session from Polly Street valued at $385! This includes: 30 to 45 Minutes on location photo session, an online preview gallery to select your favourite shots, 3 Edited and retouched high res image files.

Register now for our April event at http://www.eventbrite.com/event/1933221317

Date: Tuesday 3 April 2012 (First week in April)
Time: 6:00pm - 8:30pm
Venue: The Supper Club at the Oxford Hotel,
134 Oxford St, Darlinghurst.
(Enter the Oxford St side of the hotel and walk up the stairs. Metered parking is a few steps away on Bourke St, $1.10 per hour)

Meet amazing women as well as discussing the ever changing world of social media.

Website & Ecommerce - Set-up and beyond: tips, trends and ideas with Nancy Georges "The Retail Miss Fix-it"

Most Australian households now have the internet, which means Australian retailers have an easy path into their customers’ homes.

Online presence, e-commerce and social media are now necessary in every retailer’s marketing strategy. Websites and online stores are no longer optional extras – they are a vital necessity.

Technology is driving business more than ever. Nancy will give you the information to get you started in the world that we are now operating in.

Websites and online stores are essential for EVERY business. There are so many options and decisions to be made, which makes it harder to get started. Once you have the cart, you need to ensure it is future proof.

Your online store needs to be an extension of your existing fabulous customer service, so what questions do you need to ask yourself? Shopping cart format sorted? What about the payment gateways and options available to you? What is the best one for your needs? Integrating your website into your social media & offline activity? (which is as important as the site itself!) - what are the "do's & don'ts"?

Nancy will discuss her own experiences with a wide range of products and services.

About Nancy Georges:
Nancy, "The Retail Miss Fix-it", is a Retail Strategist and owner of Magnolia Solutions, offering retail marketing consultancy, strategy and solutions.

She has over 20 years industry experience; in-store management, customer service, product development, manufacturing, wholesaling and marketing. Evolving from a wholesaling business - Paper Magnolia - she moved to marketing support & consulting.

She has built her own websites and online stores, as well as publishing her first printed book and e-book. Her knowledge and references are all from her own first hand experiences.

Working with retailers, wholesalers, brands & manufacturers to navigate the ‘new world’; Nancy strategically integrates and implements sound retail practices with websites, e-commerce and social media. Nancy is one of the Social Media Women founders.

Nancy contributes insightful retail and marketing articles to trade magazines and websites, and is often asked to provide comment for newspapers and radio.

Nancy has just released her new book “7 Powerful Ways to Boost Retail Profits in Any Economic Climate” to help retailers identify the foundation they need to ensure a profitable retail store and business in today’s economic climate. Retailers need the information and support so that they can adapt and navigate the new retail climate.

Nancy is a speaker at industry conferences and events as well as holding seminars focused on retail and the transition actions needed to navigate the ‘new world’.

Follow her on Twitter: @NancyGeorges

A not to be missed event - learn the ins and outs of websites, online stores and offline integration.

Register now for our March event here.

Date: Tuesday 13 March 2012
Time: 6:00pm - 8:30pm
Venue: The Supper Club at the Oxford Hotel,
134 Oxford St, Darlinghurst.
(Enter the Oxford St side of the hotel and walk up the stairs. Metered parking is a few steps away on Bourke St, $1.10 per hour)

Reputation matters- Klout, Kred, and the growth of the social recommendation economy with Kate Carruthers.

How do you measure reputation on social media? It’s so much more than the number of followers you have.

Both Klout and Kred measure influence based on your ability to drive action. The Klout Score uses data from social networks to measure true reach, amplification and network impact. Kred analyses billions of tweets from the last 1,000 days to calculate your Kred. Every interaction you have made in that time is part of your score. It measures Influence and Outreach level.

But are they accurate? Kate will explain the new social recommendation economy and why reputation matters. She will discuss how to make the new social recommendation economy work for you.

About Kate:

Kate Carruthers is an expert and forecaster in online collaboration, social media, digital integration, unified communication, email and search marketing.

With extensive experience in senior executive roles for diverse organisations such as GE, AMP, Westfield and State Government she currently works in business strategy and implementation roles. Kate has also lectured in postgraduate business at Macquarie University and taught TAFE level courses in business and management.

She is Co-Founder of Social Innovation Sydney and was a long standing member of the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers and is a Senior Member of the Australian Computer Society. She is on the Advisory Board for the　Schools of Computer Science & Software Engineering and Information Systems & Technology at the University of Wollongong.

Kate is currently studying law part time as an external student with Queensland University of Technology.

Twitter: @kcarruthers 
Blog: http://katecarruthers.com/blog/

Please note: This month's Social Media Women is being held on the FIRST Tuesday of the month as the second Tuesday falls on Valentines Day.

A not to be missed event- learn about the new social recommendation economy and why reputation matters.

Register now for our February event at

http://socialmediawomenfebruary.eventbrite.com

Date: Tuesday 7 February 2012 (First week in February)
Time: 6:00pm - 8:30pm
Venue: The Supper Club at the Oxford Hotel,
134 Oxford st, Darlinghurst.

(Enter the Oxford St side of the hotel and walk up the stairs. Metered parking is a few steps away on Bourke St, $1.10 per hour)

 

 

On the weekend I attended the launch of ln Situ, an exhibition featuring traditional sculptural works and contemporary installations in shops along Military Road in Mosman.

The exhibition is billed as “Australia’s newest art trail with over sixty works by Australia’s leading sculptors and installation artists.”

One of my fibre sculptures is featured in the exhibition and when I was listening to the speeches it occurred to me that Mosman Council is using this as a tactic to create community as well as drive visitors to the area.

This year it is part of a bigger event called Festival of Mosman with the tagline as “An unmissable Sydney experience”. Obviously Mosman isn’t Bondi, but Mosman Council is aiming to draw in crowds from outside the area like Sculpture by The Sea. It’s a great idea.

The sculptures are in shops so it’s like taking art to the people, and hoping they shop while they are there!

They using Twitter, Facebook and Youtube to promote the event and build online engagement. When I was installing my sculpture a videographer shot footage for the Youtube channel and was taking photos for the Facebook page.

They have also used an augmented reality program,Layar, which recognises real world objects and display digital AR experiences on top of them using a smartphone.

Its early days for their social media engagement, but it’s good to see a council taking steps to use social media and art to engage their community.

I hope you enjoy reading this newsletter.

Outsourcing your social media campaign
So you want to start up a social media campaign for your business but don’t know where to begin? If you decide its best for your business to work with an expert there are a few things you need to think about.

Do your research before picking a company. Different companies work within different sectors, such as lifestyle and retail, and can be experts in different fields.

Set targets: Know what you want out of the social media campaign and set realistic targets. This can be a certain amount of engagement, comments on a blog or number of customers taking up an offer from a social media site.

Communicate with the company to make sure you are both on the same page. Social media is an ongoing, daily activity and you want to make sure you both have the same idea when it comes to the message and public persona you want to showcase. 

Read the article on CP Communications News.    

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How to determine your target audience
Your target audience are the individuals, groups and communities that have influence and decision making power over your brands’ products or services. They are the ones you are trying to attract and sell to – they are the people want to communicate with.

The key is to dedicate time to really refine your audience before you start ‘talking’ to them. To clarify your target audiences answer these questions:

• Who needs to hear your message? Who are the people that would be interested in hearing and learning about what you have to offer them?
• Who are the influencers? All target audiences have people who have great influence over their decisions. They can be family members, friends, authoritative figures such as doctors and even the media.
• Who must be moved to action? Who are the targets that actually follow through with the purchase?
• Who has the greatest impact on the business’s outcome? Who are the people who will affect whether you fail or succeed?

Once you have researched and determined your target audience, you can now begin to create strategies, messages and tactics that are tailored to your target audiences needs, wants and values.

Read the article on the Public Relations Sydney blog.    

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Upcoming events
Here are some events coming up that we thought you might be interested in:

Social Media Women: Website and Ecommerce: Set- up and beyond - Tips, trends and ideas with Nancy Georges
Websites and Online Stores are essential for EVERY business. Integrating the website to your social media & offline activity is as important as the site itself! Nancy will discuss her own experiences with a wide range of products and services, and will give you the information to get you started and to define the world that we are now operating in.
8 November – Sydney, NSW

Magazine Week
Magazine Week is a full week of events that will bring all segments of the magazine publishing industry together to learn and share the latest information on business and technology trends. Featuring international and local industry experts and case studies, the Magazine Week conference will offer guidance on how to do better business.
9 November - Sydney, NSW

Google Analytics Seminars for Success
Learn Google's own best practices directly from a Google Analytics Certified Trainer. Ensure the accuracy of your website visitor data and learn how to use Google Analytics to measure the performance of your website and online marketing results. The seminar is great for people involved in marketing, advertising, public relations, e-commerce, business development or web management.
9, 10 and 11 November - Melbourne, Vic

ADMA Digital Day
Marketing is evolving more rapidly than ever before as technology empowers customers and marketers across the globe. Digital Day brings you some of the world’s most successful digital marketers from leading brands to help you improve marketing efficiency and effectiveness through deeper insights, enhanced capability and the implementation of new platforms and technologies.
14 November - Melbourne, Vic

Social Media and Communications Summit
The Social Media and Communications Summit brings together Australia's leading social media intelligence, communications, Innovation, generation and trend practitioners to share industry insights with your organisation. Four of Australia's thought leaders on social media and digital communication will power your organisation with a SWOT analysis of your social media strategy.
15 November - Sydney, NSW

The 5 Pillars of Web Engagement Management Revealed
Online Engagement Management is the new idea in web publishing – it’s no longer enough to simply publish material and hope your customer gets the right message. Join Mammoth Media, and web veteran Greg Baxter from Sitecore, for a journey through the new paradigm, and understand the power behind the “connected customer”.
18 November - Brisbane, Qld   

Ghost tweeters are teams or individuals who are outsourced by companies to tweet on their behalf. It sounds like a simple concept, and in many ways it is but tweeting for a client is very different to tweeting for your own company or for yourself.

If you are considering becoming a ghost tweeter for someone, or if you already are a ghost tweeter, here are some tips on how to make sure you do it well:

Get to know their topics of interest
Your client’s online presence on Twitter relies on consistency, as social media is all about connecting and engaging with a target audience. When tweeting for your client it is crucial you understand the topics that they wish to be tweeting about. Find out how they want to be perceived, research their areas of interest and stick to it.

Learn their language
When it comes to tweeting for your client you’ve got to know how to talk the talk...or tweet the tweet in this case! Learn the language of your clients. Read articles written by them, listen to them speak and take into account what industry they are in and who their target audience is.

Don’t do anything they wouldn’t do
It can be easy to forget at times that you are not tweeting for yourself. Before you reply, comment or re-tweet anything always ask yourself: “Would my client want to be associated with that person, company or comment?”

Although you may find the tweet funny, interesting or re-tweet worthy, your client may not – it may even be damaging to their reputation. From the very beginning you should learn what conversation your client can be engaged in and what conversation to avoid.

Don’t let trouble brew
As a ghost tweeter you may be on the lookout for negative comments of feedback about your clients. Make sure, if this happens, to respond in a professional and timely manner.

If, however, your response does not seem to work and the problem is lingering, or if it seems to be escalating, contact your client and make sure they are aware of the problem. In any case do not keep quiet and assume it will all blow over.

The best way to be a successful ghost tweeter is to communicate with your client and make sure you completely understand what they want to achieve. A tailored social media strategy will always be more successful and gain far better results than a general plan used across all clients.

Last week I finally did my 24 hrs for B&T. I’m not sure if you know about this column in B&T magazine but it profiles the day of someone in the marketing industry. It has been on my list of things to do for, well.... a year. It’s been moved from my monthly list of things to do so many times I didn’t even notice it anymore.

Our clients’ PR always comes first, obviously. But one of my New Year resolutions was to make sure we focus on our PR to help the business grow but also to showcase our skills. So one of our clients is...us!

Alison is our consultant, and updates our action plan just as we do for our clients. I’m now the annoying client that never gets back to her! In an attempt to get me to do the 24 hrs column, she even printed out a blank document with ½ hour intervals on it, and a motivational quote at the top to encourage me to do it!

It worked. It’s done now and hopefully will be printed in the next couple of months. She has also booked me in to do more videos for our YouTube channel, which I’m told, I can’t cancel!

We are half way through the year and it might be time to reflect on how you are going with your New Year resolutions. Is it time to update them? Reflect on them? Or even ditch them and create fresh goals?

Speaking this month: I will be speaking at the Leichhardt & Annandale Business Chamber breakfast on 14 July and SheBusiness lunch in Balmain on 28 July. The breakfast is booked out, but there are places available for the lunch. 

WIN a ticket to Macquarie University's Women, Management and Work Conference:
Attend Social Media Women in July to automatically go into the draw to win a ticket worth $2,300 to the Women, Management and Work Conference on 28-29 July 2011 in Sydney. The conference will inspire and inform women who are looking for insights and key tips to develop their leadership skills. Read more at www.lmsf.mq.edu.au/womenandleadership.

I hope you enjoy reading this newsletter.

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Why 'how to' articles work
Writing articles is a fantastic way to gain publicity. There are specific types of articles that work well – the ‘how to’ article is one of them but there are specific ways to write them.

‘How to’ articles can not only position you as an industry expert, they can offer topical, helpful and interesting information to readers and are one of the easiest types of articles to write because they have a 'tried and tested' structure that works.

1. Know what you are writing about. When writing a ‘how to’ article make sure you do actually know how to do it. Your information needs to be backed up with real life experience and knowledge.
2. Stay on topic. The article should be objective and written in an informative and entertaining manner, but keep on topic. No editor will want to receive an article that goes off topic or becomes a promotional piece.
3. KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid). Particularly if you are writing a ‘how to’ on something complex. Avoid jargon and write in short, clear sentences, using sub headings, dot points and bolding to communicate key points.
4. Proof read it. Once you are finished, proof read it and then give it to somebody else to read. It is very common for authors of articles to miss mistakes. Allowing another person to read over the article can help. Also, by doing this you can test if your 'how to' article is effective in communicating information to people who are not experts in the area. 

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Should you BranchOut?
Most people who have joined Facebook have ‘friended’ everyone they know from people they went to school with 30 years ago to new friends.

Their pages are filled to bursting with both personal and professional information about themselves and yet, in order to network on a professional basis, you need to use LinkedIn and start that networking process all over again.

At least that’s how it used to be until BranchOut was launched.

The BranchOut application, created in July 2010, is Facebook’s largest professional networking service. In many ways it is quite similar to LinkedIn allowing users to create networks, search for jobs or people at specific companies to relay interest to and seek endorsement from previous clients or employees.

BranchOut seems to have one advantage that LinkedIn doesn’t. It uses your existing Facebook network so your contacts are already there, waiting for you to explore as soon as you create your account.

And while on the topic of learning something new, for all you social media savvy people who feel they are starting to get bored by the already existing list of social media platforms – brace yourselves.

Word is quickly spreading about a new social media platform that is yet to hit our Australian social media shores called Kohort. Users are already able to stake their claim by creating their own user account name; however you can’t enter the site yet.

Mysterious or what!?

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Upcoming events
Here are some events coming up that we thought you might be interested in:

Social Media Women July: START UPS, Tips & Tools for Overcoming the Hurdles with Catherine Eibner
Starting any business can be challenging. Practical advice based on experience helps save time, energy and money and a free program that helps support a start-up is the cherry on the cake! Catherine Eibner will share her tips and advice for entrepreneurs on starting a business.
12 July 2011 – Sydney

Marketing Women Victoria social media event
‘Social media’ is on everyone’s lips and smart phones, but how many people and businesses actually get it right? The interactive session will be led by an impressive group of experts in the social media space: future leader of Haystac’s newly formed digital and social media unit, Kristen Boschma and fellow social media gurus Yvonne Adele, Eloise Zoppos and Trevor Young.
13 July 2011 – Melbourne

Chamber of Women in Business presents Sofia Majewski – director of Speak2us
Develop and strengthen your public speaking skills and become a confident and articulate public speaker with Sofia Majewski, Director of Speak2us. Learn about where and when you speak, who your audience is and how to manage nervousness and anxiety.
13 July 2011 – Canberra

Online Retail: Differentiating Online Businesses
This event, run by AIMIA, will help retail businesses entering the online space clearly understand how to differentiate their online offering and integrate with a multichannel retail business strategy. It features speakers from the e-tail multichannel space.
12 July 2011 – Sydney
14 July 2011 – Melbourne

Macquarie University’s Women, Management and Work Conference
Learn how to become an influential leader at Macquarie University’s 23rd annual Women, Management and Work Conference. This two day conference will inspire and inform women who are looking for insights and key tips to develop their leadership skills. Speakers include CEO of Medicare Lynelle Briggs Board Director of CoSolve, Anna Booth and Director in the Royal Australian Navy Captain Michele Miller.
28-29 July 2011 – Sydney

PR and Media Releases That Get Results with Catriona Pollard
Catriona Pollard will teach you how to construct a PR strategy that gets results. By the end of this workshop you will understand how to come up with a media angle, write a pitch, media release, article, case study and editorial. You will also learn how to strategically use these tools to maximise your chance of achieving your PR objectives.
11 August 2011 – Sydney

With so many social media platforms available, it can be hard to figure out which platform will deliver the best results for your company. However, there are a few things to consider before choosing a social media platform.

Firstly, you need to devote time to it. Maintaining your presence on a daily basis is a necessity and results can’t be generated without a long term commitment. Think of it like a relationship: without your time and dedication, your social media marriage will be sure to fail.

Secondly, what are your social media goals? More traffic? More sales? Are you attempting a viral marketing campaign? Or do you just want people to associate your brand as an expert in its chosen field? It is always beneficial to identify what goals you want to achieve so you have something to work towards.

Lastly, once you have created your social media pages, dedicate your time to creating quality content, getting involved in online discussions and communicating with your consumers by asking questions and answering theirs in return.

To help you choose the platforms that work for you, here are five of the top social media sites and how they can help your business.

• Facebook:  With more than 400 million users, it’s a great site to use for customer engagement, feedback and brand development for your products and services. However, it does not rank high with search engines, so if you are looking to increase traffic to your webpage Facebook is not the way to go. 
• Twitter: Can be used quite successfully to drive organic traffic to your website as the more followers you have the more people who see your tweets and click on your links. The challenge, however, is creating an interesting and quality tweet in only 140 characters. 
• YouTube: With over 100 million views a day, YouTube is a good way to get opinions and information about your business out into the public in a visual and creative way. However, if it’s only an increase in traffic to your website you want, then YouTube is not ideal.
• LinkedIn: A professional site that allows you to connect directly with potential customers. If you want to position yourself and your brand as an expert and authoritative voice in a specific industry – this is the site for you. Take the time to research and only join groups that are relevant to you and your potential clients.
• Blogging: Blogs are extremely easy to use. If your goals are to drive traffic to your website and position your business as an expert in its field then a blog is the number one place to do so. Using key words and phrases will give you better Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) which, in turn, will drive more traffic to your site.

In order to achieve certain goals you may have to adopt several forms of social media platforms. If you take the time to choose the right ones for you, and devote enough time to them, you will find that in the end the benefits and outcomes are worth it.