Businesses are getting non-stop advice on online marketing. I would say most is bad advice. Have any tips for businesses in seeking valuable advice?

Stop thinking of online marketing as something new. The tool is new and tried and prove tactics are what works. To avoid snake oil type salesmen avoid firms that tell you it’s a new world and you have to approach it different. The reality is good marketing is good marketing, it has to get the attention of your target audience, motivate them either to remember your brand or to execute a call to action. It’s that simple.

Find and engage with firms that ask you about your target audience, your goals and expectations and run as fast as you can for ones that are there to sell glitz and glam.

What do you think businesses are forgetting about goals, target marketing and conversion when they venture into social media and Internet marketing?

The biggest thing is actually setting goals at all or at least based on reasonable expectations. The same companies will run TV commercials and bus ads costing 10 times as much as their venture into online marketing with no expectations or ways to measure success, but the moment they venture in to social media or Internet marketing they expect measurable results.

When it comes to Social Media they need to drop the word “media” and focus on the words social. This is one of the oldest forms of marketing and has one of the longest lead times. One of the measurable impacts of social marketing is customer retention. These numbers need to be part of the objectives, because as all businesses know it generally costs 10 -20 times as much to get a new customer as it does to keep an existing one happy.

What do you think businesses should learn before jumping into a social media campaign?

To be social. With the introduction of online commerce many businesses have only created an online presence because they didn’t have to deal with day to day interactions with humans. Yet humans craved the social side of commerce (talking to sales people, exchanging ideas about products, etc.) which lead to the expansion of review sites and the adoption of things like Facebook and Twitter. So instead of looking at social marketing as something that just has to be done, they need to embrace it, and find internal staff who know how engage both existing customers and potential customers.

Do you see common business marketing mistakes that could be avoided?

The biggest mistake made by companies is assigning online marketing duties to people who have no experience or training in this area. Just because someone can master PowerPoint and Excel doesn’t make them a marketer. The next biggest failing is not establishing realistic expectations and goals plus having a plan for what if we exceed these expectations. Once this is in place too many organization choose to look at the cost of the tool and not the quality. There are many great free tools, but generally you get what you pay for. So find the one you need and get it even if it cost money. In the end it will save you money.

You wrote a book called “The Last Original Idea“. What can business owners learn from this book?

This book is a look at the historical origins of marketing. We chronicle many historical successes and failures and demonstrate how marketing has evolved, and how those who understand what worked and didn’t work in the past are excelling today. By reading this book, business owners will get a true sense of what is actually taking place in the world of marketing today and then know how to avoid the pitfalls and disasters of the past which as sure as day follows night will rear their ugly heads again.

Thanks to Alan K’necht!

We appreciate your time and great answers! You can find him on Twitter and he hosts #SocialChat on Twitter on Monday nights. Also visit http://socialparler.com for more on #socialchat.

For info on buying Alan’s Book “The Last Original Idea” visit http://www.thelastoriginalidea.com/buy/. You can also buy the eBook versions at the links below:

The Amazon Kindle Version $8.95
The Barnes & Noble Nook $7.16

I have talked a lot this month about Social Media:

• Don’t Believe Everything You Hear / See In Social Media
• Your Social Media Campaign is Doomed to Fail
• What Industry Experts Look for On Twitter

Social Media Done Right is Not Easy

I have to say it again, it bothers me immensely to see so many businesses offering Social Media services and they really don’t know how to create a strategy, how to be effective and how to measure results and failures (both are important). I am going to go over the basics of creating a social media plan.

Components

Goals

Whenever you plan anything you must have a goal or goals in mind. The same goes for Social Media. What are your goals? Have you clearly defined these goals? What do you want to achieve? What do you need to receive to make your investment in social media worthwhile? Goals can be about engagement, advertising, leads, conversion, links…really consider why you are getting into social media and review your goals before you start. (always ask yourself, are my goals achievable?)

Target Your Audience(s)

What are your target markets? Who is going to be needing what you have to offer? Where are these audiences? Can you engage them? Create customer profiles and really research and plan strategies that will help you meet your goals. A quick list of what to consider when targeting an audience:

• Age
• Interests
• Gender
• Locations
• Personalities
• Customer Needs

Offer Something  - of Quality!

• Educate your audience – from the beginners to the advanced.
• Solve problems.
• Entertain, but don’t offend!
• Offer discounts or coupon codes.
• Listen and Answer.
• Be real and kind.
• What are your competitors now doing/offering – d0 it, offer it and be better!

Not everything you offer should come from your own site. Show that you know there is quality info out there and provide it. You are not losing business to others; you are proving that you are educated on the subjects you discuss.

Engage

Be engaged with your followers and those that are checking you out to determine if they want to follow you. Always be engaged with those that have questions about your business. You create relationships by engaging and the positive relationships are the key to your Social Media success! You can also use these relationships and interactions to ask questions and research.

Advertise Who You Are, But Subtly

If all you do is talk about yourself, your business and how great you are you will have no followers. People are looking for quality information and relationships…subtly keep your business or self in them mix. Promoting blog posts and specials are an easy and effective way to do that.

Measurement

Things to Think About When Planning

• How much time do you have to be involved in Social Media?
• Which platforms will you use?
• Which monitoring options will you use?
• Are your goals realistic?
• How will you measure success? Each goal should have some form of measurement that tells you whether or not your have succeeded or not. Which social media tools will you use?
• What is your strategy for branding?
• Are your goals achievable?

Melissa Fach – SEO Aware

2011 Must Haves

1. 2011 Must Have #1 – An Attractive Website w/CMS
2. 2011 Must Have #2 – An Optimized Website
3. 2011 Must Have #3 and #4 – Off Site Optimization & Local Search

Last year I wrote, Finding Your Value in Twitter. I discussed finding information and building relationships and how I found my value in Twitter. I am downright picky about who I follow on Twitter because I have particular reasons for using it. I want to easily find great industry-related articles, I want to learn, I want to see what the experts have to say and keep up with friends/conference buddies. I don’t just follow everyone, but I do talk with anyone who tries to talk to me (except for spammers).

What do Industry Experts Look for on Twitter?

I thought it might be interesting to contact some people in the industry and ask them what the look for in a Twitter stream. I asked “What Do You Look for In a Twitter Stream?”. I got some interesting responses from some of the people I respect the most in this industry.

Bruce Clay – BruceClay.com

“I react positively to the person first – more respect = more interest. Then the theme/topic is at play.

I am turned off by language and noise: if profanity or a language I do not understand it is off, and if it is “noise/spam” it is off. Ditto for emails, so this is a good signal for you.”

More on Bruce

Bruce’s blog is a must read at BruceClay.com/blog/. Bruce’s business twitter stream is at @bruceclayinc. If you see Bruce at a conference I recommend you go up and say hello. He is a very nice guy.

Lee Odden – TopRankMarketing.com and TopRankBlog.com

“Great question Melissa.

I rarely follow new people on Twitter these days, but when I do, the things that stand out for me are: Do they post useful, interesting and clever content on Twitter? Am I connected to the person elsewhere online or have I met them in person? Do they engage at large? Do they engage with me or our brand on Twitter? What do they do for work & what topics are they interested in? Relevance, moderate frequency and engagement is my short answer

What I avoid are one way, generic, irrelevant and overly aggressive (do this for me, look at this for me, me me me) Tweeple.”

More on Lee

Learn more about Lee Odden here www.toprankblog.com/lee-odden/ and read his blog everyday TopRankblog.com.

Rand Fishkin – CEO and Co-Founder of SEOMoz

“Hi Melissa,

It’s very important to me that a Twitter stream contains content (either in the tweets themselves or in links) that I wouldn’t have discovered through other channels (Hacker News, Techmeme, Alltop, TechCrunch, etc.) and find valuable as a startup guy/organic marketer.

Twitter streams that contain primarily personal or “status update” style content may be fun and interesting, but I’m unlikely to subscribe to them.”

More On Rand

I recommend everyone keep an eye on the blog at SEOMoz.org. Rand is another man I recommend you approach at a conference. He is as welcoming and kind as anyone I have ever met.

Jordan Kasteler – Blue Glass Partner

“Hi Melissa,

The sharing of knowledge, usually in the form of links, is what draws me to Twitter at all. If Twitter was without links I would hardly pay attention. This transcends from my personal preferences of only reading non-fiction for the sake of learning and obsession with documentaries, but I think most users would agree that without friends sharing what they love Twitter wouldn’t be what it is today.”

More on Jordan

Jordan is a nice man and has a smile that lights up a room, yet you know you are sitting next to genius when he is around. Go say hi if you have a chance to meet him and check out his watches  Learn more about Jordan and follow him on Twitter.

Joe Hall

“In order for me to follow someone on Twitter they must be original, or positioned in a place to further my business goals. Being original means producing original ideas and content. If I look at your Twitter bio and it says something like, “SEO/Social Media Guru that loves Foursquare and Dancing With The Stars” I am not following you. Examples of original users that I follow: @oatmeal and @fantomaster. Both of these guys often share things that you won’t see anywhere else.

Being strategically positioned will be different for each person. But for me, because I own a start up, I think its important to follow folks that can one day help further my business. For example, I follow @jbruin because she writes for Mashable. I like retweeting her because she produces good content, and I want to constantly stay on her radar. Though, I also will follow other folks that aren’t as well known as @jbruin but are active members of the industry I am in, and thus can help later on if I pay attention to them now.

Oh and then of course there are others that I follow just because they are awesome folks, but they don’t get a special mention, because they don’t need it!”

More on Joe

Joe is a super nice guy who is the creator of  WhosTalkin.com, a very fantastic tool for those in our industry and for businesses as well. To learn more about Joe please visit his personal blog.

Jennifer Laycock

“I’m looking for either resources or personality. I don’t spend much time on Twitter anymore, so if I’m going to follow someone, I either want to know I can trust their judgement to deliver ONLY really good quality content worth clicking on, or, they need to be entertaining enough to bring a smile to my face.”

More On Jennifer

Jennifer is the Editor-in-Chief of SearchEngine Guide.com and a faculty member of Market Motive. She is well-respected in our industry and full of knowledge.

What You Can Take From This

I asked these great people for their opinions because as we all know Social Media is booming. HOWEVER, so many people are just doing it wrong! They have no plans or goals and they behave badly on Twitter and other platforms. If you look at what the experts are looking for – facts, information, personality, relationships, appropriate behavior… – and try to offer these things you could start creating a successful Twitter stream.

Recent Articles On Twitter

Your Social Media Campaign is Doomed to Fail

Don’t Believe Everything You Hear / See In Social Media

I see everyone and their mother trying to get involved in Social Media and they assume it is as simple as posting this or that on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin etc. Let me ask you this question, when has anything of quality ever been easy? Here are some reasons I see about 99% of Social Media campaigns doomed to fail.

Goals – Did you consider goals?

When creating an “effective” social media campaign you must have goals and those goals can’t be “to make money and to advertise”. That isn’t a goal…that is a want. A goal is more focused –> To reach new mothers with babies under a year old. THAT is a goal.

You have to create and define goals and create a way to attract, engage and influence your target demographic!

Target Marketing – Reaching the demographics in your goals.

What are your target markets? Saying men and women is way too broad. Your demographics need to broken down and the things to consider are:

• Age
• Interests
• Gender
• Locations
• Personalities
• Customer Needs

You take these basics and create the customer profiles you think you want to attract and then you create goals and strategies to attract these people.

Engagement

When you are randomly posting crap on your profiles do you have any engagement? Are you creating relationships? You cannot have an effective social media campaign if you don’t engage and communicate with followers. Just posting anything does NOTHING. What ever you post on social media profiles should be carefully planned and be aimed at reaching your target markets and meeting your goals! Posting, “we are so great, see our YouTube video” is not engaging. However, “See a video of the work we do with children…do you have any suggestions?” is engaging.

Discuss, offer valuable information, ask questions and create relationships! Create a community or become part of one! Engage.

Influence

Do you have any influence? I can tell you that randomly posting things with no purpose and no goals is no way to influence people.

You are just wasting your time if you do not sit down and consider how you can and will influence your followers. How  can you attract followers that are actually interested in you/your company if you have nothing valuable that influences others?

If you have nothing to offer you influence no one in life or in Social Media.

PLEASE Quit Repeating Yourself

Some Twitter and Facebook streams remind me of this one part of Transformers 2 where Sam says something like, “Ever have this song in your head and it repeats itself, repeats itself, repeats itself…” (I looked everywhere for a video of this FYI). I hate and will run from streams that do the same thing all day long. I hate it and I lose all respect. Real estate people are the worst at this. Repeating yourself shows you have no interest in your followers, you have interest in creating a community or relationships and it shows you are just lazy.

Ignore what I have written today and you are doomed to fail in social media.

Also, these techniques apply to blogging as well. Hire a social media consultant to help you create an effective plan for your social media campaign. Have a nice day Melissa Fach – SEO Aware

Popular vs. Influencer

In the last few days there have been several articles about Social Media popularity and influence. These consistently discuss Twitter, as they should (I will do so as well). I had a discussion via Twitter with Michelle Robbins of Search Engine Land and we discussed Klout scores. We discussed Klout giving scores that make people seem popular. Michelle pointed out that being a real “influencer” is what is important. It is possible to be considered an influencer or thought leader by Klout and really not be what we, Michelle and I, consider an “influencer”.

Michelle said, “…anyone that needs an algo to say/prove they’re an influencer, has already failed. anyone that believes it is worse.”

In case you don’t know, she means anyone that needs an algorithm…basically a computer program that determines whether or not you are an influencer. As Michelle says, “I think the problem is that a formula is being applied to something that does not lend itself to being understood algorithmically.” Amen!

Why the Numbers, Rankings and Followers Do Not Mean Squat!

Social media leaders or influencers inspire people, educate people and/or by mere words encourage people to take a step in one direction or another. It doesn’t matter what number or ranking you are given by a program if you cannot do at least one of the above three things I mentioned.

Having said that, let’s discuss “followers” or “fans”. I can go out today and get 2000 more followers on Twitter merely by following those that instantly follow back because they want a big follower number. Just because someone has 30,000 followers doesn’t mean they are someone to listen to, especially if they are following 29,9995 people! I tend to shy away from people like that.

Big follower and fan numbers may make one appear “popular”, but what do they offer? There were popular people in high school that offered no value of any kind too…get my point?

I have found that most of the people I love to see on Twitter everyday have less than 3,000-4,000 followers. They give me the best info and things to think about. The question is how many people do they follow? Often it is a lot less than their followers list.

Quality, Communication, Friendship and Clean Twitter Stream

I follow very few people and the reason why is I have a clean Twitter stream to read everyday. I get the valuable info I need and I have quality conversations with people in my industry. They influence me, they educate me and the encourage me to take more steps in 140 characters or less!

If I followed 3,000 people just to have a high follower # I would have all kinds of stuff I am not interested in on my stream. More importantly, I couldn’t create solid and real relationships with that many people.  I wouldn’t even have time to get to know anyone or vise versa! I wouldn’t have time to dig through all the crap info to find the valuable. So, I follow only those that prove to me they offer valuable information! I follow the influencers!

So Back to My Point – Don’t Believe Everything You Hear / See In Social Media

You have to look at people in Social Media the same as you would in regular life. How do you know they are trustworthy? Have you met them and had a conversation? Have you got to know them over a long period of time? Why should you believe ANYTHING they say? What invoked that kind of trust?

DO NOT believe everything you hear, read or see in Social Media. Find the influencers please and look to them for real information.

Great articles about this top:

Your Followers Are No Measure of Your Influence

Why the Amount of Followers You Have Can be Meaningless

How To Track Down & Scout Out Influencers <– This just came across my Twitter stream as I was finishing this post…see?

Older Post:

Finding Your Value In Twitter

I will admit I did not want to be involved with Twitter. To me it was just one more thing to worry about it and I looked at it and just saw no value in it. Clients and attendees at our workshops kept asking me what I thought and I just didn’t have anything to tell them, except I just don’t want one more thing on my plate.

Then, I decided to give it a shot and check it out on a deeper level. Obviously the first people I checked out where the SEO and Internet industry people that I read every day. I followed them and watched. I also followed people I have met at conferences and people I have built relationships with through blogging. I quickly found my value.

Let me also say, I only follow people that give me value. I don’t follow 10,000 people to get 10,000 followers. I follow who I want to see and those that offer me something of value.

My Value(s) In Twitter

Quick Information

Before Twitter I had to dig around every day and find the best published articles on my industry. It wasn’t a simple task because many articles just were junk and offered me nothing. It took a lot of time and effort and I have to work at the same time. People use to be shocked at how much time I would say I read each week, but I had to dig and visit many blogs everyday. This takes a lot of time.

With Twitter great articles were mentioned and retweeted constantly. It is hard to miss a great article when 20 people you respect mention it. What I found is that Twitter quickly displayed many fantastic articles for me daily and my time digging for articles was reduced dramatically.  This was a great value to me and still is. I also see articles I would have never found before, fantastic articles.

People and Relationships

Another fantastic value I found is that the people I respected and watched introduced me to other people I wasn’t aware of before. Those new people offered me great information and friendship. I got to know more and more people that I am thrilled to know today. When I attended the Search and Social Summit in May (which is now Blue Glass FYI) I was able to walk in knowing many people and it was a lot of fun to learn, talk, eat, drink and even get tackled in to a pool with these people.

Additionally, there were many people I wanted to get to know, but just haven’t had the opportunity. I would love to attend all the conferences, but I do have work and family to maintain so it hasn’t been possible. Twitter has allowed me to meet and interact with many people I have always wanted to get to know.

Example #1 – I can communicate with the Matt Cutts- this might mean nothing to you, but to a geek like me it is like talking to Elvis. Matt and I have discussed Star Wars (yes, I really am a geek), the Old Spice guy and other subjects…this makes my day happier.

Example #2 – Sugarrae, Rae Hoffman- I always wanted to get to know her and didn’t have an opportunity to do so. I walked in the hotel at the Search and Social Summit and Rae points at me and says, “SEO Aware, hey…”. Rae is actually the one that tackled me in the pool…a nice and intelligent lady, but a tackler…

I can give you many examples, but I think you get the point. Twitter has opened doors for me to interact with industry experts and also has allowed me to continue to communicate with people I have met at conferences. It is a business tool, a networking tool and a relationship tool.

If You Are Going to Try Twitter, Do it Right

For Twitter to work you have to find your value, put time into it, engage with users and make relationships.

My Twitter account is @SEOAware which is obviously my business name, but I let my personality show and I engage with people even though I am not using @MelissaFach. I make an effort to maintain relationships and build new ones. I am not afraid to be me – a mom, a wife, A geek, a major Star Wars fan and a horrible cook.

You have to be real and you don’t have to be perfect, but you do have to be careful about what you say and try not to offend people. Offending people on Twitter is not a good idea, because the Twitter reach is long and wide!

I use TweetDeck on my computer and my iPhone to keep up with Twitter all day. It makes the process much easier and I admit I am on Twitter constantly. So, give it a try and find your value.

Melissa Fach – SEO Aware

I see a lot of businesses making really bad Facebook decisions. They are not concerned with engaging their Facebook followers, creating relationships and they don’t even consider offering them anything.

Whether you are a large or small business your goals should be to offer something valuable to your followers. This could be advice, entertainment, offering a deal/something for free and/or even the feelings of a relationship. So I am going to show you some examples.
_________________________________________________________________________

Creating a Relationship – Best Buy, Sears, Sam’s Club

Best Buy‘s Facebook technique could be considered risky or it could be considered very smart. On Facebook Best Buy customers have a place to complain and get a response from people who want to solve the problem for them. Best Buy is offering a relationship with their Facebook users. Are you?

Sears just made busy people’s lives much easier – creates a relationship and offering something for free.

Sam’s Club asks how they can do a better job for their individual customer’s experience and this creates a relationship.

_________________________________________________________________________

Offering a Deal / Something for Free –  Ralph Lauren, McDonalds, iPhone, Macys, Walmart

Who wouldn’t want a free polo from Ralph Lauren? and for your dog?

Let me just say that the new smoothies are soooo good!

iPhone/Apple needs to be offering something right now! Free apps seem to work!

Macys – you buy something you get something and free shipping! People love free stuff!

Walmart is offering some great items for a deal and reminding us to have a family night.

_________________________________________________________________________

Engagement and/or Entertainment – NFL, Target, Petsmart

NFL is creating engagement by bringing up a subject die hard NFL fans love. It is engaging and entertaining to fans.

Target is engaging followers in a big way with this question. It is also entertaining…look at the number of comments. They are also getting some great data on what their audience loves to buy from Target.

Petsmart is also creating engagement with their followers – asking a cool question and getting great answers.

_________________________________________________________________________

What You Can Take From These Examples

National brands obviously have more money to invest in research and social media marketing. They research, plan, test and implement strategies. They know what creates engagement and relationships. Everyone should know that people like getting deals or something for free. You can take these example ideas and make them your own to create an effective Facebook campaign for your business. It is important to determine what your goals are and create strategies that will help you meet those goals.

SEO Aware

Google’s Matt Cutts answers the question, “Does the PageRank of Twitter profiles matter?”

Well, I use Facebook a lot, but there are somethings they could do that would make me possibly use them as a my homepage:

1. Sidebar business directory search (imagine how many more people would sign up to add their business)
2. If they did have a business directory I would like my business info to be at the top of my business page
3. Sidebar local movie search
4. A Google search box (or maybe search3 or askboth)
5. Let me have more ability to stop certain people from pasting stuff on my wall or inviting me to crap or suggesting I become a fan of something! I don’t mind some people, but some people just go too far…
6. Let me choose what I want in my sidebars – drag and drop would be nice
7. Let me add some RSS feeds to my sidebars – similar to iGoogle
8. I need to see the weather…if the iphone isn’t available I look at iGoogle quick before taking my kids to school
9. Quit changing everything. I finally get to know the last new system and then you change it again
10. Make the ads relevant again. Lately they don’t relate to me at all.

What would you want?

Let us know!

Melissa – SEO Aware

————————-

Businesses are constantly being told to start getting into social media. Social media has its benefits and it can be very beneficial, but it is not a cure-all. You can’t just get a Twitter account, get followers and assume the money will start rolling in. It just doesn’t work that way.

As with any advertising or online marketing campaign there needs to be a plan, goals and a way to measure success or failure. Your business needs to educate itself on how to properly execute a successful social media campaign and you MUST have a website/website pages that will support your social media efforts. You cannot just have a Twitter or Facebook account and assume the benefits will come…that is like watching one of the most talented quarterbacks, ever, play in the NFC championship and expecting that it will be an easy win for him. There is no easy! (especially when your offensive line doesn’t protect you)

As with all things Social Media Marketing takes a lot of work. Here are some articles to help you begin to learn about Social Media.

Social Media: What It Is, How To Use It, and Where To Begin

What Social Followers Want

How To Use Social Deal Sites To Promote Sales

Facebook Marketing Tips: Make the Most of Your Fan Page

20 Metrics To Effectively Track Social Media Campaigns

———————————————-

Melissa – SEO Aware