Five Things Marketers Won’t Have to Worry About if the World Ends on 12.21.12
- Figuring out if social media has ROI
- Learning how to pronounce the word “MEME”
- Unlocking the mysteries of a viral video
- Completing 2013 award entries
- “Optimizing” your digital ad buys
But just in case the end isn’t nigh, here are some quick tips to ensure you ace these five tasking tasks.
- Social media ROI is in the eye of the beholder. That means you need to create value based on you or your client’s unique business goals. Start by building your social media strategy at the intersection of what you want to say and what your audience wants to hear. ROI starts there. One of the most robust and fully articulated discussions on Social ROI I heard all year took place at the Social Media Intelligence Summit in Atlanta last month. Check out David Weinberger’s presentation on how to create a Social Network Index for your company. I liked how his system uses historic brand and sales drivers and positive and negative sentiment analysis to assign business value to social media activity.
- Yeah, we love the honeybadger and LOLCATS, too, but it takes great timing and execution to create a successful meme http://www.business2community.com/social-media/sht-memes-say-about-your-brand-0336018. If your meme takes itself too seriously, you’ll risk a #bashtag campaign.
- Viral videos are the unicorns of the marketing world. Everybody loves them but no one knows exactly where they come from, how they were made or what gives them their mysterious power. The magic pixie dust seems to settle somewhere between hyper-relevance and timeliness. Since video production takes time and we never know where lightening will strike, hedge your bet in advance by developing one or two powerful point of views and monitor online conversation for spikes in related conversation. Don’t set expectations to ‘viral’ if your corporate culture isn’t one to push the envelope and won’t be able to stand behind a visually arresting and potentially controversial statement. For more tips, check out his video clip from YouTube Trend Manager, Kevin Allocca’s TED Talk on Viral Videos from November 2011.
- We marketers love to congratulate ourselves when it comes to industry awards. But if you’ve never heard of the award and you have to shoehorn your project into the evaluation criteria, think twice before spending a client’s or your agency’s billable time on an entry. Meaningful awards and accolades should recognize real innovation or the pinnacle of your discipline’s skill set. I recommend making these bona fide awards part of your annual goal setting and not an end of the year after-thought.
- Digital ad buys get more complex by the minute. Advanced optimization tactics such as Automated rules, Device breakouts, Negative keywords, SQR reports and Ad copy testing are best left to a paid search specialist. These experts can be sourced through a media buying agency or found as freelancers. For quick read on what’s new in the world of optimization, check out these articles by LunaMetrics’ Sarah Peduzzi and Clickz’ Lisa Raehsler.
Photo courtesy of DonkeyHotey
Play to Your Strengths: Do You Really Know You?
I recently came across the book StrengthsFinder 2.0, which includes an online test that identifies personal strengths and examines the role those strengths play in social and work settings. I initially scoffed at the idea, believing I knew myself better than any book or online quiz. After weeks of pressure from my family (who had all taken the test), I finally broke down and took the quiz. As it turned out, none of the qualities I thought I possessed were on the list of strengths the quiz returned to me.
I immediately dug into the book to read more about the characteristics the test thought I had. As I read the descriptions, I realized they all described me to a tee. I guess the book knew me better than I knew myself after all. How embarrassing.
Before you discredit StrengthsFinder because you’ve taken other personality assessments, like the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, keep in mind that this test measures different qualities than others. For instance, the Myers Briggs measures how people perceive and interact with the world. StrengthsFinder measures your internal talent. The Myers Briggs may work when determining your personality type, but StrengthsFinder focuses more on how you produce your best and most efficient work.
Think your strengths might change each time you take it? This study shows that 87 percent of people have at least three reoccurring characteristics in their top five list of qualities every time they take the test, and only two percent of people have no reoccurring qualities. For those qualities that didn’t reoccur, the majority of them were still in a person’s top ten list of characteristics (rather than the top five).
Our culture tends to focus on our weaknesses rather than on our strengths. The authors of the book did years of research before developing their assessment and discovered that only one-third of the ten million people they surveyed believed they had the opportunity to do what they do best at work every day. The other seven million people were much more likely to be disengaged with their job because they didn’t enjoy what they were doing. The authors also concluded that people who use their strengths are six times more likely to be enthralled in their job and are three times more likely to report having an excellent quality of life.
Since taking this test, I have tried to use my strengths to their full advantage in every situation. Knowing how I operate allows me to analyze each situation and perceive where my strengths can come into play. It allows me to be more efficient and produce greater results in everything that I do.
I’ve learned that it’s okay if you don’t excel at every skillset your job requires. You should still work on improving your skills in areas you may be lacking. Just be sure to build on who you already are, rather than reinvent yourself. You need to know what you are passionate about and excel at—then play to your strengths.
Photo courtesy of albertogp123
There’s Nothing “Small” About Fan Engagement at Petit Le Mans
If you want to get a taste of consumer passion and see real-time fan engagement, go to a motorsports event.
To auto buffs like me, race car drivers have the most enviable jobs in the world. Much like other pro sports fans, we hold drivers on high pedestals and perceive what they do as something almost otherworldly. As an Indianapolis native who grew up near the Speedway, my childhood idols included famous drivers from the early ’90s like Emerson Fittipaldi and Arie Luyendyk. As an adult, I lament at not having the opportunity to see Ayrton Senna work his magic and mourned the loss of Dan Wheldon. Racing is a real passion of mine, even if I don’t always have the time to keep up with it.
Fortunately, I had the opportunity to attend the ALMS Petit LeMans at Road Atlanta in October. This was my first ALMS event, and what I found was a surprising departure from typical racing series culture found around the tracks at Indy Car or NASCAR events. The pomp and circumstance of the Indy 500 was replaced by something more akin to a grassroots movement with an unrivaled authenticity. The ALMS wasn’t trying to oversell its product with gimmicky sideshows. They let the race, the teams, the drivers and the environment speak for themselves.
The ALMS is lucky to have participants that are the walking embodiment of consumer engagement. Fans were able to interact with the crews before the race out on the starting grid. Drivers donning half-zipped fire suits casually moved between the pits and garages, stopping to take pictures and sign autographs along the way – acts of literal public relations. It was a memorable sight to see.
For racing fans like me, it was exactly what the race day environment should be: authentic, intimate and accessible. As someone in PR, it’s the kind of atmosphere that makes my job easier. As a paying customer, it’s worth every penny they’re charging.
