Q&A: Handling a Social Media Crisis, Content Marketing, and SEO

Question: Are companies investing in social media?

Andy Oliver: Organizations are starting to invest / adapt in this area, but it’s often when they, or their competitors have been burned. For many organizations, this shift in approach to crisis requires a wholesale change of communications approach, which may often run counter to the conservative nature of companies, especially in Asia.

There have been some high-profile examples where interns or junior staff have been responsible for responding to crises on social media channels, yet the same organization would never consider putting a junior person into the role of company spokesperson to face the media. This means we’re still finding that often the crisis itself is not the problem, it is the lack of, or poor response to, a viral crisis breaking out.

Q: Any examples?

Andy Oliver: There have been several examples in recent months, such as Dolce and Gabbana in Hong Kong, SMRT in Singapore, and Qantas in Australia. In many people’s eyes, these are examples of crises that were poorly handled in social media circles. The companies demonstrated a mixture of naivety, lack of planning, or lack of understanding of basic crisis communications and how to use social media.

For example, SMRT in Singapore demonstrated it’s still operating in the dark ages and is in open denial of how social media works. In an embarrassing episode for the company, it got burned as Singaporeans voiced their anger about issues with the transport system. The response from SMRT was not only lacking, but in the mainstream media, it came across as arrogant and patronizing.

It’s a classic example of an organization that suffers a complete disconnect with its customers, with no idea how to handle a crisis situation escalating in social media.

Time will tell if this experience will bring about change in its approach to social media, crisis, and communicating with its customers in general. It would not be a surprise if this were a slow transition.

Q: How should marketers approach content marketing?

Andy Oliver: Start with the audience. Think about what their lives are like, what are they interested in, how can you be useful to them, what would they like to share with their friends, family, and colleagues and work from there.

Yes, you would like to tell them how great your product is, but so will every other business. Get to understand your audience, identify trends and communities, create content strategies that will engage, excite, and entice them to know more.

And remember, the power of content marketing isn’t just in production. It’s also in facilitation. Offer the ability for your audience to create content – they are always more likely to share what they have generated than what you have provided, however good your content might be.

Q: Why should SEO (search engine optimization) be integrated with PR?

Andy Oliver: SEO as a standalone tactic is dying a slow death: it’s no longer just the domain of SEO professionals, all communications and marketing professionals need to be fluent in optimization.

SEO should be applied to all online marketing and PR initiatives. Search engines should deliver relevant, useful content to users and marketers need to publish content that answers consumer and media demand. Seeing that every company is now a media company, SEO being integrated into PR and communications is not a choice – it’s the only way to compete effectively.

Q: Are corporate blogs still relevant for brands?

Andy Oliver: Blogs are a fantastic channel for brands to develop thought leadership content and, very importantly, as an owned channel gives them control of that content, protecting brand image and positioning. A corporate blog is an ideal hub for a social media strategy with other channels such as Facebook, Twitter etc acting as the spokes.

Blogs offer organizations a useful feedback channel and it’s a great platform to communicate expertise. Plus, SEO optimized blog content is an important part of an integrated SEO-PR content strategy.

Oliver added that brand managers have to be experts in these “3 Cs”:

1. Communities: Understand audience trends and focus on interests rather than just age or whether they are male or female. Understanding community engagement is a new key skill.

2. Collaboration: Understand when to listen and when to talk – and be aware that once your brand is in the real world you no longer have full ownership.

3. Content: Create content that is useful, usable and shareable. Create conversations that will be enticing enough for others to share. And finally remember, the definition of content is no longer just words, but covers images, video, gaming, and applications. The age of carefully crafted brand messaging is dying, we now must focus our attention on developing brand experiences.

Steps to Effective Email Testing

Email marketers list testing as one of their top priorities year after year. However, most do no testing at all. At the very least, they rely on unscientific tests and their instincts to determine which subject line, offer, or creative will perform the best.

Testing is not a short-term silver bullet that will solve all your problems. You can't run a few tests and expect your program to hum along profitably for years. What worked well last year probably will not work now.

Marketers who test effectively to achieve significantly higher open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates are disciplined to run A/B split tests in every email campaign and committed to making changes in their program that make a difference.

In this column, I will explore six steps to effectively test your email marketing campaigns.

Step 1: Ask a Question

What are you hoping to achieve? Determine a specific objective to accomplish for each email campaign. Don't attempt to achieve multiple objectives with one blanket approach.

A series of small steps can be easy to test and analyze. Structure your thinking this way: "I'd like to...":

• Have more people open my messages.
• Have more people click through to the engine.
• Reengage with historically inactive people.
• Have people click on a specific area, topic, or action.
• Drive more conversions.

Step 2: Form a Theory

Use your marketing experience and best-practice knowledge to determine what aspects might make a difference in achieving your objective. "I think...":

• People might be bored with my current subject lines.
• Placement of the specific content might drive more people to action.
• People might not understand this offer/content and therefore will not interact.
• My calls to action need to be stronger.

Step 3: Create the Test

Set up your test, following best practices. Remember, you don't need to prove the obvious.

To optimize opens (one per test):

• From name
• Subject line
• Best time to send

To optimize click-throughs (one per test):

• Creative/layout
• Subject lines
• Offer
• Copy
• From name
• Calls to action

To optimize conversions (one per test):

• Landing pages
• Calls to action
• Creative/layout
• Subject lines
• Offer
• Copy
• From name

Step 4: Split the List

Choose the best list or segment to test, and split it (for that specific test). Which statement below matches your situation?

• I'm confident this list is the most appropriate to prove or disprove my theory.
• My list is large enough to do only an A/B split.
• My list is large enough that I can break it into a larger control and several smaller test segments.
• My list is large enough that I can sample a percentage of my list to test.

Step 5: Measure and Analyze Results

Measure and analyze results to gain insight and prove or disprove your theory. Compile stats (to conversions) accurately. Look beyond the numbers to find meaning.

Even small percentage differences can mean large gains in response rates:

• Opens increased __ percent.
• Click-throughs changed __ percent.
• Conversions changed __ percent.
• Traffic to the website increased __ percent.
• Click-throughs were more focused on specific area, topic, or action.
• Click-throughs were spread out across areas, topics, or actions.
• Conversions increased __ percent.

Step 6: Make Changes

Commit to making at least one change in each campaign. How would you finish this sentence? "I need to...":

• Change my from name.
• Change my subject line.
• Change specific words.
• Change the subject line format.
• Add content.
• Decrease content and simplify.
• Increase clickable areas or links.
• Highlight actionable items more.
• Change copy.
• Modify the layout.

The Last Word

Keep it simple. Initially, test only one area at a time to maintain simplicity and establish a testing regimen. Base your prioritization of success factors on the easiest things to test that will result in the best return.

Establishing a test regimen is the key to unlocking higher open, click, and conversion rates. But don't stop with just one test. Far-reaching conclusions based on one test are not predictive.

Repeat tests where possible over a set time period. Aim for at least three controlled tests before drawing a meaningful conclusion. This will keep you on track for continual growth and improvement in your email marketing program.

11 Ways to Improve Your Sleeping Habits

11 Ways to Improve Your Sleeping Habits

We’re all busy people. We’re so busy, in fact, that we often neglect healthy sleeping habits. The average adult should be getting close to 8 hours of sleep each night. When was the last time you slept for 8 hours each night, five nights in a row?

This month, we’re chatting about ways to stay healthy throughout the New Year.  Let’s start with first thing in the morning, because, let’s face it: we all need a good night’s sleep to reach our goals for the day.

Also, total disclaimer: I’m by no means a doctor. These tips are from my own experience, the experience and knowledge of friends (some of whom have conducted sleep-related studies), and research I’ve done in the past. If you do suffer from sleep deprivation, and these tips do not work for you, please see your doctor.

1. Don’t go to bed angry. It’s an old cliché that carries a lot of truth. Reserve some time before you head to bed for what my dad always calls “winding down” from your day.

Choose a time to turn off your cell phone, log-out of email, and close the computer. The few minutes it takes to disconnect and put your mind at rest will make all the difference. I find that if I’m checking email after I’ve climbed into bed, I won’t be ready to snooze once the lights are out. Which brings me to my next point:

2. Let bed be bed. Limit, within reason, the activity in your bed. Read on your couch, work at your desk, eat at your table, and sleep in your bed. In order to train your brain to associate your bed with sleepytime, you don’t want to be living in it.

3. Limit caffeine. Having any sort of caffeinated drinks after 12:00 noon could affect the way you settle once night falls.

4. Choose a wake-up time. Set your alarm and train your body to wake up at the same time every day, regardless of the time you went to sleep. This promotes a healthy sleep-wake pattern, and helps set you on the path to more regular rest.

5. Nap fast. If you’re starting to fade in the afternoon, try to power through. If you must nap, limit it to a 15 minute or less power nap. Letting your body rest too much during the day could mean you’re not ready to power down later that night.

6. Research relaxation. It could be worthwhile to learn a bit about meditative practices and rhythmic breathing to calm you down before bedtime. Check out some books from your local library (that you can read on the couch), or try a yoga class that concentrates on meditation.

7. Get physical. Try to incorporate some physical activity into your day. It could be a run in the morning or a walk in the afternoon. By getting your body active, it will feel more ready for rest at nighttime. (Just avoid strenuous workouts within the hour you’re meant to head to bed, as it could get in the way of your brain and body getting into night-mode.)

8. Do the dark. You’ll want to sleep with as little light as possible. Use curtains, or even an eyemask if you need to. A friend of mine also started using earplugs to drown out noise to help him fall asleep. Now, he swears by it.

9. Pick a protein. A light protein snack about 30 minutes before bed can help the brain produce melatonin and serotonin, which will help you sleep better. Try a glass of milk or, my favorite, a Greek yogurt with a handful of almonds.

10. Keep cool. Your body achieves its best rest after it’s cooled down, so limit any sort of warm environment that could disrupt this.

11. Invest in a bed. It sounds silly and obvious, but you want to be at your most comfortable when you’re ready to sleep. Not only does this mean finding a bed and pillows that fit you properly, but thinking about the pajamas you wear, the blankets you use, the bed sheets you buy. Visit your local store or do some online research to learn what is best for your habits and preference. Your body will thank you later.

People can also indulge in regular meditation and yoga in order to look good and stay healthy. Yoga or meditation can be very beneficial if you want to enhance your overall health in the most accurate manner. Currently, it has been observed that the trend of staying fit and healthy has evolved quite considerably with the advent of internet and TV. Therefore, you can easily see several TV advertisements promoting their respective health supplements and other related health products. These health supplements and products can be very useful for people who may want to look good, stay healthy and feel good also. However, these health supplements and products should be taken only after proper consultation with a doctor or general physician. On the other hand, several fairness and beauty products could be seen in the market both for men and women through which they can look good, stay healthy and feel good also.

Does Google Personalized Search Have You Concerned?

Does Google Personalized Search Have You Concerned?

Google’s SPYW (Search Plus Your World) certainly has elicited some strong reactions. We have heard many of them, read the long -winded diatribes and had every “expert” weigh in on the situation. That’s all necessary (I suppose) but when the rubber meets the road, just what level of impact this change in Google’s search methodology is will be determined by the Internet commonmer, not the Silicon Valley insider.

That’s why some research from AYTM Market Research that was passed through by eMarketer is interesting but I have some questions myself. First, look at this chart which measures people’s concerns about privacy and search

My question is whether these questions were asked exactly like this and were there other options to this question (anyone at AYTM care to chime in?). Also, what kind of people were asked this question? Were they young? Old? Tech types? Regular Joe’s? This is important to know when we see things like this because it’s very easy to make sweeping generalizations when we see results like this.

The question I have that I would like to see asked of someone who has a regular job, isn’t knee deep in the online space for hours on end each day but still searches for information and even buys stuff online is “Are you aware that this kind of personalization goes on? And if you no but now do, do you care?” And lastly “Why do you go to Google?”. For large numbers of people that answer would be “To get answers to my questions”. Then ask “Do you care how they do it?” When most answer no you could ask “Do you really care how they do it as long as you get the information you need?” and most would answer “No”.

We are acting as if tech types and Silicon Valley folks and hangers on speak for the masses. They don’t. There are large portions of the US that buy stuff online that don’t care about any of this. As an industry it feels like we are majoring in the minors. Rather than figuring out the best way to efficiently and effectively reach target markets we get caught in the minutiae of what we deem to be important. It may be to us but when we get off our soap box there needs to be the realization that the audience we yell and scream at is limited. I know A LOT of smart people that don’t have a clue what Google does and guess what? They don’t care either.

Now for the second question from this article. How many US Internet users use Google+.

According to these findings 40% of US Internet users either use it or have an account. Really? I must really be out of the loop. Oh wait. I don’t live in the Silicon Valley. I just live in the Raleigh, NC area which is rather tech savvy as far as metro areas go and I feel VERY confident much less than 40% of the population here (at least the folks I know) have the slightest clue that Google+ even exists.

I’m not saying that this information is completely off base. In fact, much of what I refer to here is based on my observations only. We are not hiring folks to run out and gather survey data. It’s just that sometimes information seems sensationalistic in nature and our concern is that many will get a distorted view of the reality of the Internet space.

Will a study like the one mentioned above do that? Maybe, maybe not. I can say, though, that we as an industry need to be looking at the less sophisticated Internet user for cues as to what the mass market does online. To look at each other and assume that how we use the Internet is “normal” is not only arrogant, it’s pretty stupid.

Your thoughts?