Boost your Traffic & Success Online with Social Media Optimization (SMO)

Beau Mueller (http://www.beaumueller.com) Presented at the University of Hawaii at Manoa Outreach College: Pacific New Media on 3/21/09

Generation of  Customers ◦ Leads ◦ Fans ◦ Followers ◦ Buzz ◦ Revenue ◦ Quality Traffic Generation  ◦ The long-tail effect (niche power!) ◦ Improves User stickiness SEO Benefits  Reputation/Brand Management  Enlargement of Targeted Segment  Improve your products/services (feedback) 

Entertain  Educate/Inform  Establish you as:  ◦ An expert ◦ A colleague ◦ A friend Increase  ◦ Your network ◦ Your popularity ◦ Your reputation

Get you elected?  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOTJ-mn5Uv4

http://adultaddstrengths.com/2008/11/05/obama-vs-mccain-social-media/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpIOClX1jPE

Social Media is: • – Sharing content, opinions, insight, experiences, perspecti ves The Media Forms: • – Text, images, audio, and video Tools/Venues: • – message boards, forums, podcasts, videos, TXT/SMS, bookm arks, communities, wikis, blogs, etc. It’s the connection and the conversation… •

« Markets are conversations »  « Markets are getting smarter, more informed, more organized. »  « People in networked markets have figured out that they get far better  information and support from one another than from vendors. » « The networked market knows more than companies do about their  own products. » « Companies that assume online markets are the same markets used to  watch their ads on TV are kidding themselves. » « Companies that don’t realize their markets are now networked  person-to-person, getting smarter as a results and deeply joined in conversation are missing their best opportunity. » « Companies can now communicate with their markets directly. If they  blow it, it could be their last chance. » « Companies that do not belong to a community of discourse will die. »  (http://www.cluetrain.com/#manifesto)

The conversations are  going to happen! For better control of  your brand, your image, your reputation, etc. you must participate Once you trigger a  conversation, you should not leave it

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1427892/social_media_optimization /

Misconceptions  ◦ Not for everyone? Common objections  ◦ Not enough time (response: ease in slowly) ◦ Information overload (response: matter of priorities) Reputation Management  ◦ Monitor your SE results (but just google? C’mon…) Participation, Engagement, Conversation  ◦ Social media allows you to control the conversation (but how should you?) Ease of Entry  YouTube as marketing vehicle?  Future of Social Media? (What was Mayor Mufi thinking?) 

Get ready for more SM  apps on your phone… The iPhone Facebook app  already has 1.5 million users Another Justification for  cell phone ban? Final vote next month  could end drivers' use of electronic devices Do we really need a  justification?

Go long!  Find niche communities/groups  Find niche keywords (high demand, low  supply) and target them in your: Press releases ◦ Tweets ◦ Forum postings ◦ Video tags ◦ Articles ◦ Website ◦ Etc. ◦

Established in 1997 to answer a fundamental  question:  What are people searching for? Helps you  ◦ Identify phrases and keywords relevant to you ◦ Identify competing sites ◦ Identify phrases that have the highest traffic potential Some similar tools:   Nichebot  Keyword Discovery

Use multiple forms/tools/venues  Be patient  ◦ You will only see small changes in the beginning ◦ The strategy is powerful when users see your engagement ◦ One page on facebook is not going to create miracles but the combination of multiple tools might ◦ Never release your presence because communities need to be animated Join social networks one-at-a-time and don’t  worry about active participation, it will come naturally Target and rally your niche, your sub-niche, your  sub-sub niche, etc. Monitor your reputation 

The cocktail party analogy  Become a real member of the community  ◦ Ask and answer questions WAY more effective than live cocktail parties   No boundaries of time or space  Other people can listen in easily

Can be!  No external company needs to be engaged  Often just will cost you time 

Team of community managers that interacts with community on • blogs, forums,… Monitoring all mentions of Dell online (RSS, Searches) and tracking • mention of positive , negative, neutral Dell never censors critical blog comments and responds quickly to • criticisms on their blog and on others All Dell employees are allowed to comment on blogs that discuss their • company, but they must use give their name and identify themselves as Dell employees Since 2006, when Dell launched its DirectDell blog and major online • community initiative, online mentions of Dell have gone from more than 50% negative to only 20% negative Dell’s community initiative strongly supported by CEO Michael Dell • Dell is routinely cited on blogs, white papers, at conferences…as an • example of a company that understands and embraces the value of community http://en.community.dell.com/

Over 120 million users  Adding 250,000 new users each day since Jan  07 Most trafficked SM community site, 5th most  popular site overall Top Social Search Engine  More than 55,000 networks  25+ fastest growing demographic 

Create a facebook fan page for your  brand, store, and/or product Create a myspace group page, and join  existing relevant groups Find join and participate in niche  communities relating to your industry (RE: ActiveRain, Hawaii Tech: TechHui, etc.) Create a powerful profile page  Add media regularly 

Use SEO friendly article titles  Steady readership? Blog often.  If your postings are SEO focused frequency is  less important Usually a given, but RSS is a must  Include call to actions that make sense  contextually Use your blog as an instant feedback  mechanism

Allow you to share  brief text updates or micromedia and publish them Submitted by:   SMS, IM, e- mail, audio, or the web AKA ―Status Updates‖  on: ◦ Facebook, MySpace, Link edIn, Xing http://blog.mannixmarketing.com/2009/03/twitter-review/ 

Inane chatter or useful news?  140 character limit  Benefits  Brand building ◦ SEO ◦ Buzztracking ◦ Other benefits ◦

Start small  ◦ Use the twitter search to find twits and tweets relating to your niche ◦ Announce new blog posts, articles Build buzz  Inject your personality into your tweets  Manage your reputation  In BETA? Have frequent downtime?  Use for job hunting or hiring  Exclusive deals (twitter-only coupon, etc.) 

Tweet often:  ◦ Real-time market conditions – i.e. if you’re a RE Agent inventory, surprise multiple offer situations ◦ Reference timely local industry articles (―Home Prices in Ewa Beach dropping‖) ◦ Upload pictures with twitpic ◦ Live twitter from industry events – tours, open houses, parties

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsFU3sAlPx4

If worthy, post your unbiased company  history on Wikipedia or others Wiki communities such as Wetpaint.com great  tools to utilize and learn from and utilize the collective power of the niche community Start a wiki community for niche interests  relating to you

One of the oldest forms of Social Media on  the web ◦ But still very relevant People participating in an Internet forum can  build bonds with each other and interest groups will easily form around a topic's discussion, subjects dealt with in or around sections in the forum.

On your own site and industry forms, Identify:  ◦ Themes ◦ FAQs Use these for niche identification, product  development/modification/etc. On industry forms browse for questions to  answer ◦ Provide quality answers (don’t forget your signature or non-salesy call-to-action)

A story of big numbers:  ◦ FAQs Registered Feb 15th, 2005  By 3/06   200k+ users  25mil+ videos watched/per day Currently the 3rd most  visited site ◦ 100 million views per day ◦ Over 17% of global users visit this site daily

Metacafe   Wikicafe Others:   Videojug (educational)  Revver (share the revenue)  Find your niche…

Publish videos!  ◦ Tags, tags, tags! ◦ Try different sites ◦ Go viral  Make it fun, interesting, or otherwise worthy ◦ Educate  Grab a niche! Embed videos!  ◦ On your blog, your site, your community profiles etc. ◦ Beneficial for SEO

Don’t manipulate or spam, but…  Make your content worthy. Should they  bookmark or digg it? Can they digg it?  ◦ Make it easy for them to:

Smooths the online networking process 

―The concept behind SMO is simple: implement changes to optimize a site so that it is more easily linked to, more highly visible in social media searches on custom search engines (such as Technorati), and more frequently included in relevant posts on blogs, podcasts and vlogs.‖ —Rohit Bhargava

Definition: the practice of consistent research  and analysis of one’s personal or professional, business or industry reputation as represented by the content across all types of online

Improve customer satisfaction by gaining insights from  consumers about what is good and bad about their product or services. Increase perceptions of brand by creating opportunities to  listen to and engage consumers. Gain insights about competitors and their customers’  perceptions about their products and services. Maintain shareholder value by mitigating risk by having ears  close to the ground where opinions about a business are being formed and propagated. Engage in more effective public relations by understanding  who the real influencers are.

Gain understanding of the relationship between user  generated content and traditional forms of online media, e.g. news, print, etc. Provide early warning systems for reactive and defensive PR.  Reduce marketing spend by learning how to reach out to  customers more cheaply. Reduce internal costs by employing services which save time  and effort, as well as money. Help identify gaps for products and services which can be  developed for profitable niche markets. Gain insight into online networks and keywords and key  phrases found in user-generated content, which can help to bolster natural search results about the person, product, or business. Source: Wikipedia

Emphasize and create new good  ◦ LinkedIn ◦ Start a blog/vlog/microblog promoting yourself in a positive light ◦ Establish yourself as an expert in your field Bury, take down, or publically respond to the  bad ◦ Only 3% of searchers go past the third page but…

Embrace transparency  Do not delete critical comments  ◦ These are gems! Build trust by participating  Consider review sites such as yelp and  stumbleupon to gage/modify your offerings Incentivize feedback (bribe them)  ◦ Surveys ◦ Giveaways

15 minutes prep: 5 groups of 3-5 people  Task: Articulate a response/strategy to the  situation/situational questions. Pick a group speaker and be prepared to present. Goals:  ◦ To absorb and employ strategies/tools/venues covered thus far ◦ To learn from the collective intelligence & experience of this group  Fleshing out/discussion of SM strategies & venues not yet covered

Situation: You are charged with creating an SM strategy for Neil Abercrombie's Gubernatorial campaign. Questions: 1. What strategies will you employ? 2. What venues will you use? 3. How will you get your message out/generate buzz?

Situation: You are a young professional looking for a job. However, you have a colored past, having had a very public, drunken, run in with the law. When searching your name on Google, a news story detailing your drunken tomfoolery is the first result! Your dated MySpace profile, also on the first page, has some of your wilder times viewable to the public. Questions: How will you use SM to bandage your reputation? 1. What venues/online methods will you use to job hunt? 2. How can you establish yourself as an expert online? 3.

Situation: You work for Hawaiian Air and for some reason a lot of disgruntled passengers have been posting bad reviews, and these are showing up all over the SM landscape. However, your offline reviews show that your customer satisfaction levels are fine. Hawaiian doesn't have an SM strategy, but sorely needs one. Questions: How should you respond to these reviews? 1. What are some of the methods/venues you will use to 2. generate positive buzz, and rally your loyal Hawaiian Air following? What would you recommend to Hawaiian in terms of an 3. overall SM strategy?

Situation: You are a new local club with a lot to offer, but your numbers are not where you want them to be. You know that there are a lot of people online who would love your club. Questions: How do you use SM to get people in the door? 1. What are you going to do to keep them as fans/evangelists? 2.

Situation: You are a local Taro chip business trying to promote your delicious chips to a broader mainland market. Questions: How can you use SM to educate the masses about Taro? 1. What can you do to generate buzz? 2. How will you build and retain your group of taro-eating 3. enthusiasts?

Situation: You work for Hawaiian Air and for some reason a lot of disgruntled passengers have been posting bad reviews, and these are showing up all over the SM landscape. However, your offline reviews show that your customer satisfaction levels are fine. Hawaiian doesn't have an SM strategy, but sorely needs one. Questions: How should you respond to these reviews? 1. What are some of the methods/venues you will use to 2. generate positive buzz, and rally your loyal Hawaiian Air following? What would you recommend to Hawaiian in terms of an 3. overall SM strategy?

create a loyal following 1. market exclusive offers via SM 2. Incentivize Reviews/ 3. Manage your reputation 4. Educate/inform: 5. ◦ the video strategy ◦ press releases ◦ write articles

Consider DELL a model 1. Buzztrack 2. Put a lot of resources into ORM/SERM 3. Go Viral 4. Educate/inform: 5. ◦ the video strategy ◦ press releases ◦ write articles

The Obama Model 1. Generate Buzz 2. ◦ press releases ◦ Microblog ◦ Etc. Put a lot of resources into ORM/SERM 3. Go Viral 4. Educate/inform: 5. ◦ the video strategy (also, consider a vlog) ◦ press releases ◦ write articles ◦ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/29666704#29666704

Build your network online 1. Tweet away little bird … Use Twitter Search 2. Write expert articles 3. Post expert videos 4. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas… 5. (manage your reputation)

Contact: beau@axiomgroove.com My site: http://www.beaumueller.com My company’s site: http://www.axiomgroove.com Follow me on twitter: http://www.twitter.com/beaumueller

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Boost your Traffic & Success Online with Social Media Optimization (SMO)

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Boost your Traffic & Success Online with Social Media Optimization (SMO) Presentation Transcript