Jon DiPietro will be hosting this workshop at the Marketing & Sales Summit on Wednesday, September 1st from 1:00PM to 5:00PM. The cost is $195 – visit the registration page today to reserve your spot.
Primary Goal
Participants will develop an understanding of the components of effective inbound marketing and its advantages over traditional, outbound marketing.
Abstract
Traditional marketing approaches like advertising, trade shows, direct mail, and cold calling are becoming increasingly less effective. Peoples’ attention spans are spread thinly across a wide array of media, making them harder to target and they are getting better at avoiding interruptive messages like commercials and sales calls. Outbound marketing is getting harder and more expensive.
Conversely, inbound marketing is an approach that uses the Internet to attract quality attention to your web site, generate leads, and convert them to customers. This workshop will describe how to craft compelling content and optimize it for search, share that content effectively on social networks, convert visitors to leads and leads to customers, and measure it all.
Outline
Introduction and Concepts
Content
Being Remarkable
Blogging
Search Engine Optimization
Off Page
On Page
Sharing
Social Networking (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn)
Hosted Media (Slideshare, YouTube, Flickr, Scribd)
Social media is hot and for good reason. There’s a ton of activity on the social networks, public and private. Here’s a great overview designed to show senior management why we need to care about the new media:
More and more, companies are working to find ways to participate in social media conversations. But there’s a problem. Most social media programs are missing a crucial component…STRATEGY. Social media programs need to be aligned with the communications and business strategies of the company or mixed messages and inefficient implementations ensue. For maximum effectiveness, social media needs to be part of an existing strategy, whether that’s marketing, PR, customer service, HR, etc.
Social media isn’t just another communications channel. It’s a disruptive resource, like the Internet and Web. And it has tremendous possibilities. Don’t just think about the technology. In fact, that’s the last thing to determine when developing your social media strategy. You need to look at the cultural shift that is happening and how people’s priorities have changed over the last 5-10 years:
- We all must do more with less
- Most of us have less patience; some of this is a direct result of working with the Web as our expectations about easy access to information have changed
- Most people want 24/7 access to information so they can help themselves when it is convenient for them
- We are consuming more video, and doing more texting, less phone
- Virtually all business people are now globally aware
It’s no wonder social media has caught on so quickly. So let’s make sure we do social media right. We’ll start with a brief overview.
6 STEPS FOR DEVELOPING A SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY:
Who, What, Where, When, Why, How
WHY?
Everyone needs to be on the same page. Is your social media presence an experiment or the beginnings of a full program? What is your business strategy? Innovator, fast follower, best value, etc.? A business social media program is all about sharing expertise and building relationships. Don’t pump sales messages into this medium all day as it will just turn people against you.
WHO?
From an external perspective, who are you trying to reach with social media? What industry or job functions? Do these people already know your company or is this a first contact? What social media networks do they use? From an internal perspective, who in your company will be sharing their expertise? Product managers, engineering, sales, marketing, customer service?
WHAT?
What is the conversation that you want to join or help create? What is the message? Forget about “messaging,” though. Focus on solving problems. This needs to be a natural and less formal conversation. Rule of thumb: 20% of your messages can be about your brand, 80% should be relevant off-brand discussions, such as industry news, new technologies, etc.
HOW?
How will you share your expertise? Do you need different voices for different markets? Who is on the social media team? What role do your company’s execs play? How will you share results, such as a social media dashboard. How will you let your guard down and talk in a less formal fashion? What creative resources are required for development, design, and editorial? What will the editorial calendar look like — who will be participating and what will they be contributing?
WHERE?
Now you can think about the technology and networks. Everyone reading this should start with a corporate blog, then expand into relevant networks: LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter. If you have enough momentum, you might even want to start your own custom community. But make sure you have the activity to support it or it will be DOA.
WHEN?
What is your timeline for launch? Make sure you allow for system setup; development of company policies, job descriptions, and accountability; and training. To succeed, this can’t be a one-off effort. Regular updates are required on all the media; the frequency varies according to the network. With regard to response times, note that most people will give you a 24 hour window to respond. But expect that to shrink over time.
Coming next, we’ll talk about measuring social media success.
