I’ve had the pleasure today of attending the @econsultancy Digital Cream event. A roundtable huddle for the heads and directors of online, web and digital marketing.
After attending sessions on Content Strategy, Mobile APPs and Measuring ROI on Social Media it was great to see some common themes, pain points and best practices coming through.
Social Media is just Media
It was comforting to be among those that have accepted social is here to stay and a big player in their online marketing mix. PR is no longer traditional vs. new media, the later now far to important to ignore. While we were all active in the space to varying degrees, what interested me the most were the various metrics measured as a result.
Tracking click thrus from tweets, posts and links was a given, and attributing to conversions something we were all trying to tie up. Get that full picture.
Other interesting metrics were the benefits outside of marketing – like the reduced call centre costs that forums, twitter messages and blog posts were giving. Or Q&A sites and review sites spreading the base of the sales funnel.
Providing insightful metrics was also key. Not just total fans or average clicks, but the propensity to by of those clients that like you in FaceBook, join your group or follow you.
Tailored content is king
Your website through Beta, Multivariate and implied preferences needs to fit the user. Some have totally different experiences for those returning for a quick buy vs. the first time client, who steps through storytelling to understand the brand and benefits of the service/product. Come in from google search, one look. Return to finalise that flight, and all the local tips are showing for that destination.
Some are taking Social Media monitoring to the next level and scrapping copy to speak the way their audience does. Imagine – a website for your clients 🙂 And maybe even some of their content piped in, their reviews, both positive and negative!!!Cultural Change for Realtime marketing and PR
While we’re rolling out our Digital Marketing strategy it seems that half the battle to winning the client over is having the internal mechanisms in place to deal with this change. We will have open, honest fast moving conversations with out clients. And having the PR, Social Media and Sales teams co-ordinated to do this is paramount.
While we “run this by legal” the clock is ticking.
Old school – we could take a week, come back with a preferred statement, or wait for the crisis to blow over.
New school – if we haven’t resolved it in a day, or maybe an hour in some industries, we’ve lost the sale, lost an evangelist or tarnished the brand permanently.
Reactions to this ranged from cutting back the hierarchies and everything being pumped through the central hub, to (the more sustainable in my mind) full blown university in Social Media – with training part of KPIs.
Glocal Content and Responsibility
It seems apparent that the true leaders will be those that have a centre of learning to teach decentralised content hubs. Employees will be empowered to act as brand champions. Trusted, no, expected to do so.
A learning library within the company, combined with attributable actionable analytics, will mean – our web presence won’t be a microfiche of every piece of content that “just had to go up”, but will be something employees are proud of.
My efforts, tweet, comment and that thought piece drove X dollars to our bottom line!!
Nick Allen - Marketing, Growth & Running 