Marketing YOU in 3 steps

August 29, 2012 1 Comment

1 in 9 HR pros are likely to search your nameHave you searched your own name lately?   91% of human resource professionals reported screening their candidates with social networking according to a recent Reppler study .  What this means to today’s professional is that you need to actively manage your online persona.  How you look online – the results that are pulled up when you search your name – could win or lose your next job.

The three best tools to develop your own marketing campaign are LinkedIn and Twitter and  WordPress.  All three are free, simple to use and offer helpful online tutorials.  Once you build these out, they will likely become the top three search engine returns when anyone searches your name.

1. Your LinkedIn profile is much more than an online resume. It provides a multidimensional view of you that no piece of paper can replicate.  Choose a professional picture, add the latest books that you have read in your field and connect to people in your field.  LinkedIn is often the first stop for recruiters searching potential employees.

2. Twitter is a revealing look at who you surround yourself with professionally.  Your posts, and the Twitter feeds you follow need to be relevant to your business.

3.  Create a blog.  Writing and communication skills are extremely important to employers.  What better way to prove you have those skills than to create a blog?  WordPress is a free and simple blog template site that makes a first timer look like a pro!  Plan on writing about something related to your profession at least once a week.

Like any marketing campaign you’ll want to build your image strategically.  Make sure you know your intended audience and keep your profile and postings relevant to that audience.

The current employment climate makes everyone a free agent in a very competitive economy.   Use these online tools to build your brand and proactively market yourself to employers and your profession.

Filed under Digital, Marketing, SocialMedia Tagged with , , ,

Marketing time travel

August 21, 2012 Leave a comment

Less than 10 of 800 marketing educators posted in a social network themed conference“Marketing in a Socially Networked World” was the subtitle for the American Marketing Association’s Summer Educators Conference this past weekend in Chicago. My expectations included lots of spirited discourse around the established social networks like Facebook, Twitter, etc., thoughts on the next step in social marketing, some ROI debate and talk about ongoing implications of a two-way consumer conversation.  I figured the conference hashtag would be blowing up with inspiration.  Right?

Wrong. Instead I found myself plunged into ten years into the past by the paltry participation in the twitter conference hashtag.   Less than 10 of the over 800 marketing educators attending the conference posted via the conference hashtag on Twitter.

It was a disturbing insight into our population of marketing educators who don’t appear to be participating in one of the major tools of social networking.  Undoubtedly social networking is one of today’s most important relevant marketing manifestations.   If educators aren’t participating, are they teaching it?  My guess is no.

The amount of theoretical consideration required for research and doctoral dissertation appears to have eclipsed the need for keeping up with dominant themes in real-time marketing.  I am not saying that research should be abandoned.  But it’s time to make sure marketing educators teach relevant marketing.  In this case of social networking it means that marketing educators should do a better job of practicing what they teach.

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Millennials focus is legit

July 10, 2012 Leave a comment

What segments can make or break a your show?  Look to the millennials as one of the leading indicators.   Although the courtship of millennials has been a bit rough… the arts (as in live theater, musicals, museums, etc) really need to continue to woo these 18-34 year olds.  They are a great segment for a number of reasons; they are active, more curious, and more vocal about their experiences.

Active – for sure.  Scarborough US (August 2010 through September 2011) data shows that there are just about as many millennials as boomers that report having had a cultural experience in the last year.    That is 8.5%  (20.1 million) percent of the 18-34s  versus 8.9% (20.4 million) of the 45-59 year olds.

Curious  – indeed!  Just look at their opening weekend movie behavior.  These culturally active millennials are 57% more likely to see a movie on its opening weekend.  Add this need to see it first to a healthy dose of higher proclivity for social media and you have the active ingredient for word of mouth momentum.  This lifestyle slice provides the first wave of enthusiasm and the higher likelihood of spreading the word.

Vocal – to a fault.  The mobile culturally active millennial is 135% more likely to access social networks immediately on their phones.  You can bet they register both their enthusiasm and their lack thereof very quickly after their experience.

How do you harness the strength of this millennial cultural goer? Get them to your show first.  Give them something to talk about.  It’s a legitimate strategy that charts the future of the arts.

Room for discussion:

What are some tactics for increasing 18-34 year old participation in a cultural event launch?  What are ways that you can encourage social word of mouth?

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Social media buys time for CMOs?

May 29, 2012 Leave a comment

The average tenure of the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) has been declining for years and up until recently was showing an average 22 months.  Now there is circumstantial evidence that social media may be the turnaround tool needed to provide more CMO stability.

The CMO position holds primary responsibility for revenue,  therefore it’s commonly held that the CMO is the first sacrifice when shareholders want to punish poor returns.   But this belief is like a red herring to the back story highlighted by Ad Age’s Paul Dunay as he discusses the tenure challenge.

Dunary identifies that much of the problem is the inability to get timely feedback on deployed marketing efforts.  The need for timely research feedback that allows for tweaking and retweaking has long thwarted even the best marketers.

Enter social media.  And enter an uptick in CMO tenure.  Dunay identifies an upward CMO tenure trend reflected in a recent SpencerStuart study pegging the average time to 28 months.  A jump from 22 to 28 months! Coincidence? I think not!

Allison Fine on the HBR blog  notes that “According to a Booz & Company/Buddy Media survey released last October of more than 100 large companies, only a third have a senior executive charged with overseeing social media. And just over a third (38%) reported social media as a CEO-level agenda item.”  It may be that 1/3 represents the tipping point for CMO longevity.  The ability to participate in an immediate conversation with consumers in a 24/7 social media world provides much-needed timely feedback that allows for marketing strategy adjustment.

Although social media is still struggling against the boardroom “bah humbugs” – it is clearly growing in respect.  And along with it, CMO tenure.

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Sex versus Smartphone: How well do marketers really know women?

May 15, 2012 Leave a comment

Shifts in women's lifestyles lead to notable shifts in technology adoptionSmartphone wins.  That is the answer given by 400 “influential” women in a survey  (conducted by Ginger Consulting as reported in Adweek 4/23/12)  that asked “What can’t you go without for 30 days?”.  As a matter of fact 41% said they couldn’t do without their smartphone versus only 4% opting to do without sex.

Okay, so this is low hanging fruit in terms of catchy survey stuff.  But it does underscore lifestyle shifts in women that marketers need to pay attention to such as the decline and/or delay in marriage which is also accompanied by a shift to later-life child rearing.     Adweek’s Women’s Issue profile of three generations of women; the Indie Woman (28-34), the Mom Achiever (35-45) and the Alpha Goddess  (55-64) tries to connect the dots in these lifestyles changes  to shifts in the way women are using technology.

The millennial Indie Woman is easily identified and accepted as a strong user of technology. “Her virtual image is as important to her as her real-world one” is the quote Adweek uses to describe this independent career focused lifestyle.

The real surprise comes from the older two lifestyles; the Mom Achiever and the Alpha Goddess are both much more likely to be technologically proficient than previously thought. The Mom Achiever users technology to gain some control over their busy work and childcare roles.  Their kid’s technology habits actually influence them to use the latest more recent media.

The 55-64 year old may be the biggest shocker of all with a current smartphone penetration of 30%.  In this same Adweek issue Forrester Research is noted as observing that “women 55-65 spend about the same on consumer electronics as a typical Gen Y-er..”.

Shift happens in lifestyles and the outcomes increasingly are demonstrated in technology use.  Keeping connected to consumer research is critical in making the right technology and media decisions.   Marketers need to continually monitor this kind of research to stay relevant and impactful.

Room for discussion:

How do these trends affect marketing plans?  Where in the marketing planning do you take these trends into consideration? Compare and contrast the effects on a Children’s Science Center marketing plan versus the plans of the Symphony.

Filed under Digital, Marketing, Mobile, SocialMedia Tagged with , ,

New engagement with old stuff

May 1, 2012 Leave a comment

Museum content development provides new look at old stuff

An unlikely leader in content development, museums point the way with engaging tactics.

Content development is priority for anyone in social media and marketing these days.  But undoubtedly museums have one of the most challenging content scenarios; to make old stuff new again.  Colleen Dilenschneider from IMPACTS and author of the blog “Know your own bone”  (an exploration of creative engagement in museums and cultural centers) was recently in town sharing more than a dozen examples of effective engagement – an inspiration for more examples in the creative museum genre:

The Effie awards has honored The Field Museum for several campaigns, the most recent was a delightful and successful rebirth of “Sue” the 67 million year old T Rex fossil.  The resulting 10 year anniversary launch spanned traditional and new media and drove over 450,000 tickets – breaking all goals set for the campaign.  The Effie site showcases  this work with a succinct video presentation and a well written/documented  pdf case study.

Colleen inspired these Pittsburgh examples with her sharing of the Museum Analytics site – lots of data from museums across the globe with the ability to parse by city.  As you can see by the Pittsburgh page the top online activity is led by the Warhol Museum  and by The Mattress Factory.  The Warhol twitter feed showcases everything Andy from time capsules to the BMW in a lively conversation with a stunning following of close to a half million followers.  “MF I Confess”  allows visitors to confess their reactions to the Mattress Factory installation art in quick, fun and irreverent videos.

The Field Museum, Warhol and Mattress Factory -very different venues –  yet each with inspiring content development that transforms the old into new engagement.

Room for discussion:

Look to your market for a museum to use as a “client” for to brainstorm content development.  What guides the process of content development for that museum?  What content ideas can you come up with that would meet the limited resource criteria of a non profit and still create engagement?

Filed under Content Development, SocialMedia, Ticketed Events Tagged with , , , , ,

Man hours versus metrics

April 24, 2012 Leave a comment

Marketing's online data diving; a delicate balance of benefits versus timeThe good news is that the internet provides ample data for measuring entertainment marketing success.  The bad news is the same.  Data – scads of it, can drown a marketer (and even an experienced researcher) as they make infinite dives into metrics that can end up alternately with game changing discoveries, minor improvements or just an inactionable dead end.  Therein is arguably one the biggest challenges facing today’s marketers –that of achieving the fine balance of man-hours to metrics.

Enter the next stage of making analytics simple and functional.  An emerging industry of simplified analytics is personified by  Splunk named appropriately for the phonetics cousin “spelunking” or cave diving.  Only now it’s data mining!   Splunk’s success is glaringly evident by the reported $3 Billion IPO achieved this month.  They are a poster child for the natural progression of simplification that we have seen repeated over and over again on the web.

As exciting as this trend may be, it still is not a feasible fix for the smaller companies that struggle even with the free helpful hand of Google Analytics and/or easy graphic nature of Facebook Insights.   The reality is that in a small to medium size company the successful use of this data is more than likely driven by the self discipline of the marketer crunching the analytics.  So for now, until a Splunk like option is affordable, marketers need to set realistic metric analysis goals that are actionable.  Page views, bounce rates, in page content analysis are simple metric checks that can provide ample direction.  When man hours are tight, a good disciplined metric analysis strategy is critical.

Room for discussion:

Choose a local entertainment company.  Discuss and identify the essential analytics to be followed for an average  1) website  2) facebook page.   What actionable information will be created?  How often should this be reviewed?  How many hours per week/month should/would this take?

 

Filed under Content Development, Digital, Marketing, SocialMedia Tagged with , ,

Facebook Picture Brightens with Instagram

April 10, 2012 Leave a comment

Android users are more likely to use the picture feature

Android users are younger and more likely to use the picture function - a huge growth potential for Instagram and now Facebook.

The Facebook acquisition of Instagram is amazing on so many levels.  A billion dollars certainly gets a lot of attention, particularly when you are talking about a company that employs only about a dozen people.  But as a defensive move it is brilliant. The launch of the Android Instagram app has phenomenal growth potential for Instagram – and thus is a critical strategic acquisition for Facebook as they launch their IPO.

First, consider the amazing growth of Instagram – even when it served less than half the mobile OS platforms; Apple only, up to just recently with the roll out to the Android platform.

Now look at the Apple user versus the Android user.  There in this Nielsen report the significant differences that jump out include use of the picture feature.  Clearly the Android user is much more likely to picture message and picture download.  The opening of the younger Android market  has the opportunity to launch another Instagram growth spurt.  One that could truly threaten Facebook as it addresses a huge Android population that is similar in size to the Apple user numbers.

So at a billion dollars the acquisition is a cheap way to stop the user flow to another application and a great way to insure a continued strong IPO outlook: another savvy move by Facebook.

Filed under Mobile, SocialMedia Tagged with , , ,

New media diet feeds “The Hunger Games” success

March 27, 2012 Leave a comment

"The Hunger Games" trilogy inspires top box office movie“The Hunger Games” $155 million dollar opening is third highest in history notes this NYT article, and portends an estimated $500-$700 million dollar total take.  What’s extraordinary about this “The Hunger Games” box office is that it was not launched during the traditional summer blockbuster period nor was it done in 3D. Even bigger news is the impact of a relatively meager $45 million dollar “The Hunger Games” marketing budget (administered by a smaller than normal staff of a little more than 20) compared with the average big move launch that is generally more than twice that amount.

How did Lionsgate do it?  Careful, thoughtful, strategic marketing that started with the launch of the book series in 2008 (now estimated at sales of 24 million) and culminated with a multifaceted integrated online campaign.  The stunning new media campaign cultivated fans with content development that integrated a website, multiple Face book pages/communities, Twitter streams and You tube.  It garnered over 800,000 registered fans on the website for their custom  for digital ID cards, resulted in over 17.7 million You Tube views inspired fans to participate in a scavenger hunt contest that sent them to over 100 different web sites.

This disciplined albeit dizzying integrated approach was carefully crafted as Forbes reports  “ There is even a formal brand architecture for the franchise that enforces strict guidelines for promoting The Hunger Games:  never show the games themselves, no use of the phrase “Let the Games Begin,” don’t talk about children dying.”

“The Hunger Games” is the poster child of movie marketing in new media.  It’s a study in brilliant and successful marketing strategy and deployment.  Great case example of new media done right.

Room for discussion:

“The Hunger Games” success is also big news for the movie  business which feared the lack of content left by the final Harry Potter release and upcoming final Twilight movie sequel.  What new book franchises are possible entrants into this same space?  Which do you see succeeding and why?

Filed under Film, Marketing, SocialMedia Tagged with ,

Conan has last laugh with youthful social core

March 13, 2012 Leave a comment

The "Young Mindset" details the Conan fan expectation

"Random absurdity" is just one of several distinct expectations of a Conan fan.

Despite his lagging numbers the late night TV ratings race TBS has renewed Conan’s contract – a move that makes a ton of sense in light of both a very young core audience and his strong social numbers. Conan’s young audience ensures growth over the long run.   According to the Wall Street Journal, TBS puts the media age of his audience at 32 years old – the youngest of all the late night shows.

Amazingly enough that same article notes; “Television executives say that Mr. O’Brien’s ratings problem lies in part with his niche appeal.” -showing an alarming lack of understanding of the strength of the niche programming in a super fragmented world.  The “Team Coco” brand embraces niche – and defines it clearly.   In a recent presentation that TBS made to our Point Park University students one particular slide (pictured here) stood out as an indicator of how well the Conan team knows and works to connect to their fan base.

Facebook numbers underscore the Conan youth and social media advantage. Conan blows away the top contenders at 1.8 million with Leno lagging at 408 thousand and Letterman at 319 thousand.  Team Coco translates Conan’s brand online with a 24/7 presence that combines with the TV audience to bring an estimated 20 million people to their sponsors commercial views according to Turner as quoted in Ad Age article aptly entitle “Conan’s Ratings are Down, but He’s Huge Online”.

Conan O’Brien’s comedic path has had some unpredictable twists and turns but the clarity of his connection to his young socially network savvy market may be the differentiator that creates long-term success.

Filed under SocialMedia, TV Tagged with , , ,

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