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 , , ,

What’s a tweet? About $58 per character

January 31, 2012 Leave a comment

Social monetization myths abound.  They run the gamut from assertions that Kim Kardashian gets $10,000 per tweet (true, according to NYMag) to the inference of a “free” social media in the headline of the Business Insider article “P&G CEO to lay off 1600 after discovering it’s free to advertise on Facebook and Google”    The reality is that for the right audience the monetization of a content via Twitter can been connected with legitimate analytics to a figure of about $58 per character (using an $8,000 per tweet value) in each  tweet according to the same NYMag article.

The analytics come in this case from Ad.ly – a company that is known as one of the leaders in the realm of identifying “influencer” celebs (aka the ones that have built a strong following) and connecting them with audiences.  On their website they identify moms, sports fans, teen girls, teen boys, women 18-34 and men 18-34 as the audiences that match up with the celebs who monetize their fan worship with overt endorsements. Segmentation that matches nicely with the markets that are high users of the platform such as followers of sports and reality TV (both consistently score high in Rentrak social media index).

The most popular measurement of Twitter monetization is the case of Charlie Sheen’s tweet.  NYMag  reports; “Sheen’s tweet for Internships.com generated 95,333 clicks in the first hour and 450,000 clicks in 48 hours, created a worldwide trending topic out of #tigerbloodintern, attracted 82,148 internship applications from 181 countries, and added 1 million additional visits to Internships.com.”

Sheen was reportedly paid $50,000 for that tweet – about $147 per character.  Yah, Twitter is not just about what folks had for lunch today.  Myth debunked!

Room for Discussion

Do you think that the price of the tweet is worth the response.  How does Charlie Sheen’s tweet pricing and response compare to other options you could purchase with $50,000?

Filed under Marketing, SocialMedia Tagged with , , , ,

Can Twitter Save the Local News?

August 15, 2011 Leave a comment

Can Twitter collaboration really help local news gain ground? Seattle news outlets are experimenting with hashtagsas a way of creating a community of news.

#waelex hashtag is agreed upon by Seattle media for election news posting

#waelex hashtag is agreed upon by Seattle media for election news posting

In the last decade the local TV news broadcast domination has been severely undercut by national networks.  Nationally broadcasters compete with the likes of CNN, Headline, MSNBC, Fox News and in the sports news juggernaut ESPN.   The result? Local broadcasters are becoming more local – a differentiation that the national players cannot touch.

Local broadcasters have a huge stake to defend.  Media watchdog site Free Press reported in 2009 that 40% of a local TV station’s revenue was news related.  In order to maintain and grow that revenue local stations have adopted new strategies such as adding coverage as well as consolidating operation with former competitors.

Seattle broadcasters have stepped forward to add another  local news strategy by  collaborating on  the development of a uniform hashtags on Twitter.  Hashtags are an easy Twitter researching tool allowing users to organize all tweets on a particular subject and/or add their own to the stream.  That said, the only caveat is that one person’s hashtag may not be the same as another.  Seattle media have vaulted that hurdle by agreeing on a uniform hashtag for whatever subject is being covered.   For instance the elections coverage is searchable by #waelex.    As you can see in the example this not only creates a  fabulous user experience for real time local news, it also creates a more robust conversation.

To quote an old adage; “a rising tide floats all ships”.  The ease of searching breaking news and joining the conversation will give the Seattle news market a much needed local advantage!

Filed under TV Tagged with , , , , ,

Little Monsters = Target Market?

June 20, 2011 1 Comment

What is a Little Monster?  Hard to describe in traditional target speak. Yet Lady GaGa’s little monsters have turned into a juggernaut with undeniable force. Lady GaGa's Target Market Little Monsters “In the past year, Lady Gaga was the first artist to reach 1 billion views on YouTube; she beat President Barack Obama to 10 million Facebook fans (she’s now closing in on 35 million); and most recently, she was first Twitter user to acquire 10 million followers.,”  touts a Mashable case study.

Again, what’s a Little Monster?  Is it a particular age?  Sex? Income level?  Does it fall in a VALS  category or a Prizm or Mosaic cluster?  Yes, all of the above. And yet none of the above by itself captures the little monster.

Marketers continue to be challenged with understanding and defining their target consumer.  Lady Gaga is a great case for seeing how this is done today, with the social media consumer.  Social media marketing is less about who you are targeting than who chooses to connect with you.  Marketing looks a little more like self selection.  And in order to be successful you need to be definable.  You need to mean something.  And you need to be genuine. Lady GaGa clearly is a champion for everyone who feels like they live outside the mainstream.  A little different:  A little monster.  Brilliant!  Who can’t identify with that?!  Lady GaGa’s success can easily be seen through the traditional lens of the 4ps as each is uniquely crafted to the Little Monster.

Is social media the right viewpoint for target market definition?  Given it’s enormity, growth and , transparent nature the answer “Yes!”.  Social media is a requirement for target market definition.  Pay attention to who self selects and hone your positioning to that Little Monster!

Filed under Branding, Music, SocialMedia Tagged with , , , , ,

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