You are about to read Kendall Matthews book review of Chuck Hemann & Ken Burbary's work on understanding consumer data. Key points are going to be: *How To Prioritize--because you can't measure, listen to, and analyze everything * When to Use analysis to craft experiences that profoundly reflect each customer's needs, expectations, and behaviors * Why Measure real social media ROI: sales, leads, and customer satisfaction Share this in-depth book review with a friend and follow me to have more book reviews sent to your email box. Follow me @KendallMatthews

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3. “Fundamentally, we still
want the same things that
we’ve always wanted:

4. what’s best for ourselves and

5. those we care about,

6. the need to be heard and the desire
to be part of something
bigger than ourselves so that we
can make a lasting impact on the
world.”

7. If we as marketers and
communicators can grasp that
reality and ensure that we’re
thinking about the needs of
consumers in this digital age,

8. we’ll find that awareness will be
repaid by more attention,
trust, and loyalty.”

9. “The rise of social media has granted us
access to unfiltered consumer
data in real-time, or near real-time,

10. that can influence the direction and even
the creative elements of campaigns.

11. Rest assured that this is the very
type of marketing expertise
that will be highly valued in
the future.

12. The geeks shall truly inherit the
(marketing) earth.”

13. “Today’s digital media landscape is
more complex than ever before.

14. The continuous and rapid introduction of
new platforms, tools, data sources, and
media consumption devices (such as
mobile devices and tablets) have
created an environment that can make
any marketer’s head spin.

15. The challenge now lies in identifying
which unique composition of all
those choices is required to produce
the outcomes needed to achieve
your digital goals and objectives.”

17. Specific questions to ask:

18. 1) Which audience segments
are competitors reaching that
you are not?

19. 2) What keywords
are successful for
your competitors?

20. 3) What sources are
driving traffic to your
competitors’ websites?

21. “Your website exists for a reason.
More specifically, it exists for a set of
specific conversion events.”

22. Leading web analytics platforms
provide insights regarding this key
area and answer questions about
how onsite user behaviors
lead to conversions.

23. “Do not get stuck in the trap of
trying to measure everything just
because the data is available.”

24. “Cutting through the clutter and
positioning your brand, your digital
outposts, and your brand content in
the best possible way to be
discovered is more critical today than
ever before.

25. In order to successfully do
that, brands need to
first understand how
they are currently
positioned,

26. how consumers are
currently behaving in
terms of searching
for relevant content
and experiences, and

27. what competitors are
actively doing to
capture consumer
attention first.”

29. “It’s not obvious on the surface, but
creating successful, personalized
user experiences can happen
only with a keen
understanding of the
audience and their needs,
expectations, and behaviors.

30. This requires pulling in digital data
from a variety of sources and
performing rock-solid analyses.

31. The end result is a clear picture
about what makes an audience
tick, and it is something that you can
begin to align against as you develop
your marketing and advertising plans.

32. We call this process
audience analysis.”

33. The term AUDIENCE itself
can be used as an
acronym for remembering this
technique:

34. Analysis - Who is the audience?

35. Understanding - What is
the audience’s knowledge and
attitude toward the brand?

36. Demographics - What is the
audience’s age, gender,
education, location, and so on?

37. Interest - Why is the
audience reading, sharing, and
interacting with
your brand content?

38. Environment - Where
does the audience spend
time online?

39. Needs - What are the
audience needs associated with
your brand, product, or service?

40. Customization - What specific
needs and/ or interests should the
brand address in order to add value
for the audience?

41. Social data analysis is a big area
of focus these days. Brands are
trying to get answers to audience
questions such as these:

42. •What conversations
are taking place
about my brand?

43. •What topics and/or
themes are most
talked about?

44. •How does my audience feel
about specific brand, product,
or service attributes?

45. “For marketers, the
Good News is that
it’s never been
easier to produce
and distribute content to
an audience.

46. The BAD NEWS
is that as a result, it
has never been
more difficult to
get noticed.

47. More competition puts a bigger
emphasis on making sure you
know that your content meets
the needs and expectations of
the target audience.”

48. “The riddle that marketers
need to solve involves
understanding the content
needs of the audience,

49. how the audience
consumes content,

50. and how to deliver
on that!”

51. “Often, marketers believe they
understand what consumers
want to hear from them.

52. Often, marketers are wrong.

53. The brand might want to talk
about its products, services,
or latest deals or promotions.

54. Consumers don’t necessarily
have an aversion to that
content, but they are looking for
a shared value exchange-something
in it for them.

55. They are voting either for or
against a brand with their time
and attention, and…

56. …consumers give either a
direct or implied endorsement
in the form of likes, shares,
retweets, favorites, ratings,
and reviews.”

58. “Social media conversation data
is powerful and provides a
window into consumer behavior
in a way that marketers have
never seen.

59. It is also a real-time source of
information that shows how a
program is performing.”

60. Receiving negative feedback from a
customer is a little more challenging.
Following these steps can help you
handle this situation:

61. 1. Acknowledge the feedback
publicly and suggest that the
conversation be taken offline.

62. 2. Note to the angry
customer that you care
about the feedback and
are constantly listening.

63. 3. Ensure resolution
(as best as possible)
of the matter quickly
and professionally.

64. 4. Customers are
aggravated by unresolved
issues, especially if a
resolution was promised.

65. 5. In whatever software
solution your company is
using, document all the
elements of the situation.
You never know when that
issue may come up again.

66. Understand what kinds of
content your competition
is producing online:

67. 1. Examine content engagement
(Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.)

68. 2. Post frequency (how
often and when?)

69. 3. Paid vs. earned

70. 4. Is YOUR target
audience participating?

71. “After you have identified the
keywords people are using
online, it is important to cross-reference
those words against
the words you are using on all
your properties.

72. Do they match the
words you are
tagging on your
website? If not, why?

73. The goals should be to
customize your content to
what the community is looking
for and also to make it as
visible as possible.

74. Are these words the
same words you are
using in social media
posts? If not, why?

75. Again, you need to
ensure that you are
giving the right content
and that it is very visible.

76. What about on your
blog? The same idea fits.

77. Conduct an inventory of
the words you are using
in tags versus the words
you have identified that
match these issues.”

78. “Who is the customer?

79. It’s a simple question, but
it’s difficult to answer
based on the data sources
and research you use.

80. Don’t guess who
the customer is;
know!”

81. “Think about it for a
moment:

82. If you do a Google
search for your name,
what typically appears?”

83. “By this point in the book,
you have probably guessed
that we think digital media is
important.

84. We’re not the only people who
think so. According to a recent
report from Econsultancy, 68%
of companies report that they
expect increases for their
digital budgets over the next 12
months.

85. Anecdotally, we have heard
from several client-side
marketing professionals that
digital spending is going up,
while television spending is
decreasing….

86. This is not a trend that is likely to
slow, especially as brands attempt to
continue to capitalize on a new
channel that allows them to more
frequently communicate with key
stakeholders and drive new business
leads.

87. What is also not going to change
is the abundance of data
available to communications
professionals.

88. In fact, the amount of
data is likely to go up
from here as social
media becomes
more mainstream.”

89. “The fact that 25% of your fans on
Facebook or followers on Twitter
are engaged with your content does
not necessarily translate into sales.”

90. Potential Tactics
• Build a Facebook brand page
• Establish a Twitter account
• Launch a YouTube channel

91. •Outreach to mainstream news outlets
to further a particular message
• Activate bloggers to grow the share
of conversation

92. “Because using mobile devices to consume
information has become so common, more
marketers are trying to…

93. understand how they can
reach consumers on the go.

94. Companies are developing
apps and new websites in
order to capture consumers
wherever they live.”

95. “One of the things that most of us who work in some sort of
marketing-related profession take for granted is the use of a
smartphone device.

96. Many assume that all those who
utilize mobile technology are
doing so from a smartphone
device.

97. But that could not be further
from the truth.

98. There are still many people
using older cellular technology,
like flip phones.”

99. “Marketers need to consider how their content is going to be
viewed, consumed, and shared on a smartphone.

100. Although some people are still
utilizing older technologies, a
smartphone growth rate of 42%
needs to be taken seriously.”

101. “Android devices are still growing more quickly than iOS
devices worldwide.

102. In fact, Android devices are
growing six times faster than
iOS devices.

103. Android devices are taking more
of the market because Android
is a more open platform for
developers, has greater device
security, and has more
widespread availability.”

104. “The bottom line is that marketers
need to consider all platforms when
building new mobile-optimized
content.”

105. “Just in the past two years, the amount of traffic Internet
sites has received from mobile devices has exploded.
According to StatCounter (see Figure 20.4), 1% of site traffic
came from mobile devices as of December 2009.

106. As of December 2012, that
number had climbed to 13%.

107. This is a staggering increase,
and the trend line is only going
to go higher as mobile device
and smartphone adoption
continues to rise.

108. In some markets, the amount of
traffic coming from mobile
devices has surpassed the
amount coming from desktops.”

109. Interesting Statistics
•Gartner predicts that by the end of 2013, more than 60% of Fortune 500
companies will “actively engage” customers with Facebook marketing, up from
20% in the fourth quarter of 2011.

110. •Only 25% of business-run social media
accounts are defined by meaningful
customer engagement and consistent
content distribution (Altimeter Group).

111. •In the past year, 17% of customers have
used social media to get a customer
service response (American Express 2012
Customer Barometer).

112. • Customers who engage with companies via social media spend 20% to
40% more money with those companies than other customers (Bain &
Company).

113. • More than 20% of consumers use social
media to seek information or to find deals
or recommendations (J.D. Power and
Associates).
•

114. •One survey found that 60% of customers
feel companies have generally improved
their response times over social media
channels (American Express 2012
Customer Barometer).

115. “Content is the lifeblood of any marketing program,
digital or otherwise.

116. If your content is not
appropriately tailored for
the audience you are trying
to reach, the program will
fail.

117. It really is that simple.”

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