Tag: digital marketing

by Steve Peterson

Include Content Marketing In Your Social Media Marketing Mix

First, is social media marketing good? Can I get a “Hell yeah!” When assessed on nearly every dimension – cost per thousand, discrete targeting, measurability and analytics, where the eyeballs are spending most of their time – social media channels are your best bet to reach and engage with your constituencies.

Even with a powerful social media proposition in hand, content marketing – the process of creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience (what I’m doing now if I’m doing it right) – is an invaluable part of your digital marketing strategy. Blogs, newsletters, videos, mini-courses, how-tos and many other types of information you can leverage to engage and nurture your clients, patients, customers or donors is what binds them to you and your product, service or cause.

So, let’s get practical. How do you do it? For mid-sized and large companies with their own staff of marketers, curating your own content isn’t especially burdensome. For smaller companies, however, adding content marketing to what may already be a full plate of digital marketing initiatives can be challenging. Whether you already have a staff of content curators or are looking to add or augment this service with a provider who can add some muscle to your marketing mix the common themes remain the same.

Make A Plan
Any well-executed strategy has to have a plan. What you are going to say, when you are going to say it, who says it and how you say it are just as important as what you actually say. Creating a robust content calendar in something as simple as a spreadsheet will allow you to focus on the content instead of continually asking “what are we doing this week (tomorrow, next week, next month)?” Start with large themes that you want to cover, perhaps by quarter, and then break it down into smaller chunks of content that can be created and released systematically. It takes some discipline but it pays long-term dividends. Once you are in a cadence you’ll wonder how you ever managed it any other way. If you need help defining your strategy or if you have created a content calendar that’s more then you can handle, enlist the help of a qualified social media and content marketing firm who can help clarify your goals and either assist with or entirely take over your content creation and marketing while you run your business.

Make It Relevant
Your supporters, both present and potential, want content that resonates with them. Gone are the days when a slick jingle or snappy ad copy extolling your virtues will move someone to click their way into a conversion. Your content must fulfill on the “what’s in it for me” requirement and, as any good social media marketer will tell you, should nurture the like, know and trust dynamic between you and your targeted audience.

Make It Personal
Talk to your audience in a personal way that will ignite response and engagement. Polls, open ended questions and blogs that leave some wiggle room for continued commentary and dialog are just a few examples of how to keep engagement high. People don’t connect with brands and companies. People connect with people. If you connect with your audience on a personal level many hurdles to conversion will take care of themselves.

Make It Consistent
Just as we have learned through social media, one of the cornerstones of content creation and management is consistency. Consistency in schedule, valuable content and tone will attract and retain your audience. Creating quality content on a regular basis will keep you at the top of the know, like, trust pyramid.

Understand Who Controls Your Brand
In the age of social media, what people say about you carries more weight than what you say about your brand. Here’s a quick fictitious example.

Colgate formulates a new kind of toothpaste that they say will make your teeth 100 percent whiter in one week. They release the toothpaste and consumers, who must have that blindingly white smile, buy the new product in droves. The product flies off the shelves and Colgate could not be happier. A month later, a small number of consumers start posting photos revealing that, while making their teeth appreciably whiter in a week, the new toothpaste appears to be eroding tooth enamel at breakneck speeds. The photos go viral. There are a lot of negative comments. Colgate now has a very messy problem on their hands. No amount of advertising is going to make the negative image go away until trust has been restored and people are saying good things about Colgate again.

Use Social Media to Support Your Content Marketing
Social media and content marketing are complementary disciplines. Do you need social media as part of your mix? Absolutely. Your day to day actions in social media buttress your brand and help to keep you top of mind with new, existing and potential supporters. Specific platform advertising on social media channels is a very effective way to drive traffic to your site or blog. Without regularly posted high-quality content and services to back up your promises social media can become a hollow, noisy and wasteful exercise. The two go hand in hand. One is the well applied grooming that may get you a first look and a date. The other is the substance you reveal once you and your date sit down and talk. Diligent care and feeding of both your social media and content marketing channels is key to a sustainable, engaging, ongoing conversation.

Give these suggestions a try and let me know what you think.

by Steve Peterson

The Rise of Video Dominance and the Future of Digital Marketing

Technology advances in the just the past few years in the social media space have continued at an exhilarating, some would say, numbing pace. Bundled in with a slew of new features from industry heavyweights Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram is functionality specifically aimed at video.

YouTube, who’s primary focus is, of course, video, continues to refine their channel creator suite and now supports 360-degree video capabilities. Videos like Bjork’s 2015 “stonemilker“, illustrate where artists are taking immersive video.

The popularity of Facebook Live, Facebook 360 Twitter’s video sharing, watching and creating strategy, as well as Instagram’s latest offerings – expanding from 15 seconds to 1 minute of video and their still being rolled out Instagram Stories, underscores the importance and rising dominance of video, especially immersive, interactive video.

How did we get here so fast and what’s driving it? First, high speed wireless connections and powerful mobile devices. YouTube recently reported that over half of its 1 billion+ users spend over 40 minutes per session on mobile devices. You can see YouTube’s full stats here.

This excellent article by Google’s Australia and New Zealand Head of Marketing, Aisling Finch, makes what I feel are some spot on predictions. The focus, specifically on virtual and augmented reality, will trickle down and will shift the paradigm from one of passive watching to immersive, up close and personal, interactive engagement. Anyone with more than a passing knowledge of social media understands the holy grail of engagement. These technologies, coupled with a nearly insatiable thirst for good video content, will usher in the next phase of social media marketing.

 

This companion piece, written by Aaron Luber, Head of Partnerships, VR at Google, lays out many of the possibilities that savvy marketers will likely be compelled to leverage as video sophistication becomes more ubiquitous. I would encourage you to read the entire brief article, since Luber asks four important questions for brands thinking about getting into VR. I would also encourage you to be creative in your assessment of and answers to these questions by thinking about your product, service or cause in a creative new light. Full disclosure; since Google owns YouTube (true, the list of things internet related that Google doesn’t own may be smaller), they are able to influence the market in major ways, like their cheap and down and dirty release of Cardboard.

VR cameras from Jump and Go Pro are there to capture the experience, while YouTube and ever-more sophisticated social media platforms will be ready for those of us willing to draw clients, customers, donors, and members into our world and engage them in meaningful, lasting conversations that, yes, provide products and services but more importantly provide lasting value, which at the end of the day is what we’re all really here for, right?

Nowhere is VR’s power more vividly on display than in this mind-blowing video for Tilt Brush, a VR environment that has given painters, designers and visual artists an entirely new avenue of expression.

Numbing? Please. Exhilarating? Without question. Just as social media, once dismissed as a time-wasting fad, has proven its power and durability, so too will video in it’s ever more captivating forms. The ride continues. Strap in, drive and enjoy

by Steve Peterson

The Intersection of Technology and Marketing Fuels Competitive Advantage

My client engagements over the past few weeks continue to underscore the importance of an increasing interdependence between marketing and technology.

Competitive advantages in today’s economy are fueled by understanding and leveraging technologies that best suite your needs and working with consultants and partners who can help drive them. Recently Steve Peterson & Associates has:

  • Worked with a grant writer for nonprofits on a remote access solution that allowed her to work on documents on her home computer while on a train form New York to Richmond. Without this solution in place she would have missed an important deadline for a grant for one of her clients. With remote access in place she was able to submit the grant two hours before the deadline, positioning her client for success.
  • Worked on analysis for a video production company that will allow more robust email management, shared calendar and video storage solutions, three pain points that when implemented will solve their speed to market and company communication/scheduling challenges.
  • Submitted a proposal for a medical association management company for training in social media marketing and management that will increase their Association Manager understanding of best channels, best practices and how best to execute on a social media agenda.

While it’s true that at least two of these endeavors fall well outside the bounds of our firm’s core work in social media management, the fact that a solid technology footing fosters further discussion and makes social media campaigns possible by removing technology distractions is a benefit that can’t be underestimated. Besides, we love doing this stuff too! To tell clients we’d rather not share our 30 years of technology experience in start ups, mid-sized and fortune 500 companies would be a disservice.

And when technology wins, people win. Technology manages the nuts and bolts, nits and gnats of your marketing efforts. People, who possess endless creativity when not bogged down in technology, are what drive great campaigns. Remove technology barriers that allow an organization’s collective brainpower to flourish and you’ve got a winning formula on your hands. Technology gets out of the way and people are happier for it.

Social media marketing consultant, yes. Technology advisor, absolutely! When the technology solution requires more firepower Steve Peterson & Associates has a great partner that understands and is entirely focused on nonprofit IT management.

Bring your challenges to the table. Our inner geek awaits.

by Steve Peterson

Running a Committed, Social Media Savvy Nonprofit Means Getting in and Staying in the Game

The core symbiotic relationship between nonprofits and donor/members – shared vision coupled with financial and volunteer support – is what propels successful organizations forward. In the brave new digital world, staying on top of your social media strategy with a solid game plan will ensure that you continue to cultivate and foster those relationships. Our research reveals three dominant themes; 1. Get committed and start moving. 2. Experiment with a mix of different platforms and strategies. 3. Position your organization for the future.

Exploring these themes in a little more detail can help you go forward confidently. Here we go!

Get Committed With Your Social Media Vision and Plan of Attack

Beth Kanter and Allison Fine have co-written a solid book, The Networked Nonprofit, which aligns with our philosophy here at Steve Peterson & Associates; specifically, get in the game, be diligent and experiment with social media. Experimenting helps you identify what works and what doesn’t, which in turn allows you to fully explore different digital channels and make mid-course corrections that inform new strategies. With some judicious – and here’s the important part – persistent tinkering, you’ll hit on a handful of winning strategies that can drive successful social media campaigns and in the process both increase donor and member loyalty and help you garner new members.

The importance of commitment and persistence cannot be stressed enough. Spinning up a Facebook page or Twitter profile without both a committed strategic direction aligned to your organization’s goals coupled with a plan on how to execute and measure your efforts could result in a healthy dose of sand dumped directly into your donor engine. Creating an online presence just because everyone else is doing it, only to half-heartedly and inconsistently manage posts, replies or promoted events clearly signals to your constituents and potential donors a dearth of digital sophistication. This is an especially egregious oversight when factoring in the increasingly affluent, digitally skilled and socially cause-conscious Millennial and Gen-Xer populations, a combined 126-million strong.

The Future Is Here: Learn and Adapt

Changes in how and when donors engage with nonprofits are forcing organizations to rethink old strategies and quickly apply new ones.

An article published recently by Arjuna Solutions underscores the increasing importance of leveraging social media and technology strategies as they relate to fundraising and member engagement. Their five-point plan includes:

  1. Get online payment processing tools in place now.
  2. Position your organization for the future by focusing a portion of your efforts on capturing and fostering conversations with the burgeoning Millennial market, a group that on average donates $481 per year. The challenge is engaging them on their platforms of choice, all of which are digital.
  3. Leverage multiple online platforms that support your campaigns.
  4. The shift from annual giving to year-round efforts, further emphasizing the importance of a persistent, managed social media presence.
  5. Analytics and reporting, specifically predictive analytics that allow organizations to tailor precise donation ask amounts.

Getting your social media act together doesn’t mean everything has to get done at once. It does, however, mean that the journey should start now. Instead of being dragged kicking and screaming into the perceived digital abyss, lean into unknown digital spaces and your own discomfort, work with partners that can support and supplement your efforts and hire digital savvy associates whenever possible.

That whooshing sound you’re hearing is the digital revolution in full swing. Get in the game.

Click here to learn how to create a PayPal charitable donation button for your website.

by Steve Peterson

What Generational Differences Tell Us About Social Media Marketing

A lot of my social media management consulting engagements lately have centered around standard marketing channels vs. social media and web advertising platforms. This conversation can be sliced and diced in any number of ways but one fact is loud and clear; as Gen-Xers and Millenials continue to exert their influence, buying power and philanthropic footprint across the cultural landscape, organizations poised to leverage digital channels will give themselves the best chance to win the hearts and minds of their existing and potential customers, donors, members and fans.

A revealing and detailed chart provided by wmfc.org that breaks down generational difference into a many fascinating dimensions (influencers, core values and work life balance just to name a few) provides solid evidence of the impending change. Irrespective of the obvious profound shift to digital media channels as marketers move from Traditionalists and Baby Boomers, who have recently embraced more digital devices but remain a distant third behind Gen-Xers and Millenials who live their lives on them, are the sheer numbers. 80 million Baby Boomers, long regarded as the 800-pound gorilla, are dwarfed by the combined 126 million Gen-Xers and Millenials, a whopping 75 million of which are Millenials.

“This young audience, spanning 21-43 year olds, are sophisticated and adept digital consumers, able to sniff out a non-responsive web site, failing form submission button or digitally naive organization in a heartbeat and likely never to return.”

Getting a handle on your digital footprint, deciding on the channels that can best facilitate communication with your core audience and consistently executing on your social media marketing plan will continue to be key differentiators that will separate the haves and have nots. The time to start assessing your current position, aligning it with your organizational goals and both executing on your plan and measuring your results it is now.

This philosophy, a comprehensive suite of social media marketing and management services provided by Steve Peterson & Associates, is what we’re all about. We can plug in when and where you need us; digital media effectiveness assessments, strategy, execution and reporting. When you’re ready, we’re here. Let’s get started!