Social media marketing gurus tell you that you can’t ignore the chatter about your business, your brand and your industry. Social media has corporate marketers feeling the pressure to participate in and steer the conversation. We need to build credibility and become a thought leader, right? But what’s so genuine, noteworthy, or even social about social media marketing? Status updates to people you hardly know? Networking via 140-character opinions? How many relationships can you truly manage before you’re just adding to the noise? Businesses need to get found, engage and convert, and while growing in popularity, can social media marketing match a business blog when it comes to creating leads and customers? In this presentation, I weigh the merits of social media marketing and blogging for business and try to help you prioritize your efforts for the best return on investment (ROI). That is what it's about, right?

1. Stop the social media noise!
Can you grow
your business
faster with a blog?
October 20, 2009

2. I Get Paid For: Delivering best-in-class digital marketing strategies that
grow our clients’ businesses.
Prior Life: Founded R.O.Why! Marketing, a Cincinnati strategic marketing
agency; director of marketing at On Assignment (NASDAQ: ASGN); director
of marketing at Computer Task Group (NASDAQ: CTGX); Marketing
manager at a software development firm.
Training: B.S. in Marketing & Management from the University of
Cincinnati College of Business. 8 years client side, 7 years agency
experience.
Passions: Social media, blogging, 1:1 CRM, leveraging BIC digital across
the customer conversation
Other Tidbits: Social media director for the Cincinnati American Marketing
Association; frequent opinionated speaker & writer.
Brian LeCount
Associate Director, Strategic Planning

3. Part of WPP Group, the largest agency holding company
in the world with 2,000 offices in 106 countries
Employee Makeup:
Cincinnati, Ohio
Headquarters:
1979
Founded:
Top 25 Best Small Companies to Work
For in America (2006, 2007, 2008 & 2009)
250 (and growing) people including Creative, Technology,
Project Management, Research, Strategy, and Client Service

4. clients

5. show of hands
• How many have a blog?
• How many are actively managing at least one social network?
• How many posts per month?

6. it
used
to be
so
easy
2009

7. budgets are tight
&
we’ve got to make some choices

8. first, some harsh realities
[the] most credible source of information about a company is now “a
person like me”, which has risen dramatically to surpass doctors &
academic experts for the first time. 7th annual edelman trust barometer
• your customers don’t want more friends
• 3,000 – 5,000 ad messages
• we’re looking for solutions

9. more
realities

10. marketers
aren’t yet
convinced

11. neither are
consumers

12. are we really surprised?

13. so why all the hype?

14. social media is great for...
- sharing news
- staying connected
- building networks
- building relationships

15. how much is too much?
Thanks for sharing

16. are we solving our customers’
problems?

17. does it make
an impact?
what?

18. you can measure social media

19. you can measure social media

20. you can measure social media

21. - Visits
- Mentions
- Conversations
- Forwards
- Diggs
-Tweets
what about
conversions?
but what are we measuring?

22. that’ll be 5,000 tweets
please.

23. the problem
with social
media
Nobody wants
to join your
social network.
Really.

24. what’s so great about a blog?
everybody searches!

25. - Preachers
- Consultants
- Product reviewers
- Pontificators
- Soccer moms
- Citizen journalists
- Armchair quarterbacks
aren’t they just filled with…
Um….yeah.

26. but...great business blogs…
• Win the search
• Solve customer
problems
• Deliver valuable
information when
I need it most

27. why aren’t blogs
measured
effectively?

28. too many think blogging is an
editorial exercise

29. corporate blogging is an acquisition
strategy

30. the goals haven’t
changed

31. ATTRACT

32. CULTIVATE

33. CLOSE

34. attract
cultivate
close
every effort.
every marketing decision.
every step you take.
must first improve your ability to
achieve these objectives

35. let’s get focused
- HOW MANY RSS FEEDS CAN YOU DIGEST?
- HOW MANY TWEETS CAN YOU READ?
- HOW MANY TRUE RELATIONSHIPS CAN YOU MANAGE?
is social media feeding you
customers or is it simply feeding
your inbox?

36. social media should be in your
toolbox, but prioritize it

37. blogging is about winning the search
- titles
- keywords
- recent content
- lots of content
- links
- relevancy

38. blogging is about winning the search
- titles
- keywords
- recent content
- lots of content
- links
- relevancy

39. blogging is about winning the search
- titles
- keywords
- recent content
- lots of content
- links
- relevancy

40. engage & convert
calls to action make it
measureable.

41. engage & convert
calls to action make it
measureable.

42. engage & convert
calls to action make it
measureable.

43. so...

44. tired
yet?

45. prioritize
the vast majority of your
audience finds the
solutions to their
problems via search.
Image property of Compendium Blogware

46. blog for search
- your customers are telling you what they need
- mobilize your teams to talk about the problems they solve everyday
- organize your content around what your customers are looking for
- serve them relevant content & meaningful calls to action

47. blog for search
- be there when I’m looking for you
- introduce me, engage me
- solve my problem better than anyone else
- if you do this well, maybe I’ll friend you on facebook
- if you deliver a great experience, I’ll talk about it on Twitter

49. 2.7mm
searches
if you sold toasters, where
would you look for buyers?

50. questions?
Brian LeCount
513.824.6245
b.lecount@bridgeworldwide.com
Twitter: @blecount
Facebook: BrianLeCount
LinkedIn: BrianLeCount