Social Media 101: The First Question To Ask Yourself Before Getting Started With Social Media

By Natascha Thomson

As a social media professional at SAP, I get many questions from colleagues who are new to social media and would like to add social media to their marketing mix. The learning curve on social media is still steep for most people, and in this blog, I have aggregated the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions.
Many of my consulting engagements start with the sentence "My team wants to have a Twitter handle" or "I need to increase the number of fans for our Facebook page".
To that, there is only one answer: "Why"? And ,"Let's take a step back".
Before you get engaged in any kind of social media project, please ask yourself the following questions:
1. What are my social media objectives (these should align with your marketing, and on a higher level, your business objectives)?

• Maybe you are trying to create awareness for a product offering?
• Maybe you want to extend the reach of an event beyond a physical location?
• Maybe you are tasked to generate leads?
• Maybe...(fill in here)

Content is (still) king, and email is (still) a "really efficient" way to deliver it.

By Mark Helfen

At last weeks SDForum Marketing SIG meeting (February 14), speaker Daniel Greenberg presented examples of a carefully designed strategy for internet B2B sales. 

But given all of the technological sophistication available, the monitoring and distribution tools that can be used, a couple of older ideas are critical - content is still king, and email is still a "really efficient" way to deliver that content.

Greenberg is Chief Marketing Officer for Simply Hired. But his presentation discussed strategies he used when he worked (also the CMO) at TrialPay.

Simply Hired is a web aggregator that searches job listings on many web sites - a specialized search engine. This was not the focus of his presentation, and Greenberg gave only a brief overview of the site. The conclusion is that if you are looking for a new or different job you should check it out.

TrialPay's marketing strategy was the topic of the evening. TrialPay "helps online companies sell more by placing advertising around their transactions," and his task was to get more of this business at a minimum cost, with the least human intervention. From his perspective, marketing's budget is decided by how much revenue the marketing strategy delivers, which is a motivation for an effective plan.

Marketing is moving from an art to a science. The web has made things much more measurable, and new tools allow you to measure the effectiveness of your marketing strategy.

By Mark Helfen

"Your brand yourself every day."

"You have a brand, whether you like it or not."

"Great work does not equal a great reputation." (Perhaps this last one could be the most difficult for engineering types.)

These were a few of the things you would have heard at the last SDForum MarketingSIG (January 10) from speaker Karen Kang, an expert on personal and corporate branding. Kang is principal of Branding Pays, a consulting practice that helps both corporations and individuals brand them self. Or maybe more accurately, helps them establish and manage a reputation that helps with their marketing.

Kang, a former partner at Regis McKenna, one of the valley's premier PR firms, spoke to an overflow audience at the regular monthly meeting held at EMC. (And thanks to EMC, both for the space and the food.) Her presentation focused on the idea that your brand, or the reputation that you have in the eyes of others, needs to be managed. Just doing your work expertly isn't enough.

"Brand is both a noun and a verb," said Kang, meaning that your brand is your image and reputation, but developing or changing your brand is an activity that requires work.

The work starts with both your professional competence, and your core values. Your brand starts with results you can actually deliver.

You need to "start getting expert in something, to make you stand out from the pack."  Most people have skills and competence in their background that can be the core of their brand. But as with all marketing, doing everything isn't a good strategy. You need to focus on a small number of things that match your core beliefs and objective, and that will make a memorable impression with your target market

Kang's model is a cake with icing. The cake represents what you are really good at - what you can deliver. The frosting is your presentation - the outside layer. Maybe your personality - the immediate thing people feel when you walk into the room. Being "attractive, engaging, and likeable."

Once you have developed your brand, at least to your own satisfaction, the next step is to make it visible to others. One step is developing a "third party reference structure of endorsements." This could include writing, blogging, or speaking.

Kang also has a 90/10 rule - 10 percent of the people have 90 percent of the influence. Part of your branding strategy is finding those 10 percent - your brand "eco-system" that helps transmit your branding message.

The end is a reputation that is focused, clear, and compelling - what people will remember about you - your brand.

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Mark Helfen is a freelance writer, journalist, and marketing consultant. He can be reached at:
mhelfen@wordpixel.com

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/markhelfen

Facebook: www.facebook.com/mark.helfen

Follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/mark_helfen

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Looking at the same facts from a new point of view can create a new understanding

By Mark Helfen

Sometimes looking at the same facts from a new point of view can create a new understanding, a new marketing strategy, even a new way of designing a product.

At the November 8 SDForum MarketingSIG meeting, Adrian Ott, CEO of Exponential Edge, presented some new ways of thinking of time, and how it effects your products. If you were there, you would have heard phrases like:

- Time-onomics
- Attention bottleneck
- Inattention economy
- Time value innovation

The basic idea is to factor your customer's time, or more specifically the lack of time, into the design and marketing of your products.

The latest technology funnels huge amounts of data into our brains. The result is that we have to triage our attention.

"Time is driving so many of our decisions," said Ott, factored into everything. It isn't just price that is the basis of a purchase. Decisions are made by comparing value to price, plus the time that needs to be invested in buying or using a product or service.

SIG TOPIC SURVEY - How should privacy be included in your marketing mix?

Your help is requested in an informal survey of SDForum Marketing SIG members.

Would you be interested in a SDForum Marketing SIG meeting on the the topic:

How should privacy be included in your marketing mix?

Some topic ideas:

• Is privacy, both policy and technology, a required part of your marketing mix?
• What do customers, both business-to-consumer, and business-to-business, expect for privacy policies and practices.
• What are some of the best privacy practices that work well, and what doesn't work.
• What are some of the changes coming down the road, and how can marketing programs, and marketing managers, be prepared.

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Any speaker suggestions would also be welcome. If there is interest expressed, either by commenting on the MarketingSIG blog, or by emailing me directly, we will try to schedule a session.

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Your suggestions requested and appreciated,

Mark Helfen


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Mark Helfen is a freelance writer, journalist, and marketing consultant. He can be reached at: mhelfen@wordpixel.com

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/markhelfen

Facebook: www.facebook.com/mark.helfen

follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/mark_helfen

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P-Camp 2010 Silicon Valley - March 13

By Mark Helfen
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P-Camp 2010 Silicon Valley will be on March 13, and if you are a Product Manager or Product Marketing Manager, you don’t want to miss it. I was at last years, and it was quite an event.

P-Camp is a barcamp. What’s a barcamp?

Well, there is a whole history of where the idea of a barcamp originated. You can read about it here, but it isn’t really relevant to deciding to attend. Barcamps have nothing do to with bars, beer, or other alcoholic beverages, at least not during the session. What you do after is your own business.

There are barcamps all over the world on a large variety of topics. (The Nairobi 2010 barcamp is currently being planned.) I recently attended Freelance Camp (for freelance writers) in Santa Cruz – it was a great day.

The idea of a barcamp is an “unconference,” - an open source meeting where the conference attendees make up the days agenda when the morning starts. P-Camp is a little more organized – morning sessions are set up in advance by a vote of the attendees, while afternoon sessions will be decided on the morning of the event. If you have a topic you would like to discuss with fellow marketers, you can organize it and run it. You don’t need to be an expert to run a session, you just need to be willing to stand up in front of a group and manage the process.

Whether you run a session or not, its worthwhile. A whole day devoted to product management and marketing topics, all surrounded by your peers. A great learning and networking opportunity.

You should register in advance. In prior years, registration filled up. Cost is…. free.


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Mark Helfen is a freelance writer, journalist, and marketing consultant. He can be reached at:
mhelfen@wordpixel.com

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/markhelfen

Facebook: www.facebook.com/mark.helfen

follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/mark_helfen

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