The Common Ground PR team discusses their non-traditional pitch to TIME.

Know Your Audience

The first step is to prioritize your organization’s objectives and the key groups that need to hear your message.  The Common Ground team referred to these groups as the “essential audiences”. It can be difficult to take a step back from the daily grind and view your communication initiatives from the outside, but this practice generates the best insights into your audience’s mind. Make sure you can tell your audience why your business does what it does in a relevant matter. Most likely they don’t care that you make 37 cents profit per widget.

View Presentation Slides and Storify Tweet Recap on the Event Page

Shape Your Message to Your Audience

Once you gain an understanding of your key audiences, this information needs to shape company messaging. Target your communications to the channels your audiences inhabit. Social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest all have different user-bases with different needs. Communications on these channels should be targeted appropriately.

Pursue Third-Party Endorsements

Endorsements of outside entities, like newspapers or online publications, provide legitimacy and support to your communication objectives. A credible endorsement from a third-party trusted by your essential audiences can have a major impact on your business. Particularly in the digital space, referring links from well-known publications can greatly enhance your site’s search engine optimization.

Attendees enjoyed pizza from Pi On the Spot (@PiTruckSTL on Twitter)

Build Traction and Identify Opportunity

As the team from Common Ground put it, “Obscurity to Oprah is a myth”. An unknown business should not put 100% of its energy into gaining a third-party endorsement from the New York Times. Most often, strong publicity is built by targeting more focused publications that appeal directly to your essential audiences. The key is to slowly build traction, ultimately leading to larger and larger endorsements. Common Ground’s advice on identifying these opportunities to build traction? “Monitor like crazy”.

Feed the Growing Local Appetite

Lastly, Denise and her team presented an interesting fact: 72% of users follow local online news outlets such as Patch.com. Clearly, the local appetite is growing. Businesses need to identify their audiences not just by demographics and preferences, but also by location.

The Pi On the Spot pizza food truck was brought up by the panel as a great example of a company that understands their audience and communicates with them effectively. This example was particularly effective as the Pi Truck had just finished feeding the attendees! Find more information about the Common Ground PR team at www.commongroundpr.com, a website designed and developed by The Net Impact.

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It is not common for Google to release any information on their upcoming algorithm changes before they go live; in fact Matt Cutts did just that during his SXSW panel in March.  Cutts explained that Google will update their algorithm to target websites over doing their SEO and penalize their search engine rankings.  This will not come as a surprise to many in the industry, especially to those who use the proper SEO techniques against competitors who abuse SEO practices.

Many might ask what does Google consider “over optimization” or what makes a website “overly SEO’d”?  According to Cutts, they will be looking at websites which have “too many keywords on the page or exchange way too many links or go beyond what you normally expect.”

The “too many keywords on the page” penalty refers to the page content and the frequency of keyword mentions also referred to as keyword stuffing.  Google has always stressed the importance of well written and relevant content.   This change further strengthens Google’s algorithms to detect good content versus poor content written to improve keyword rankings.  Webmasters should continue to perform keyword research and optimize their content with highly relevant terms with the primary goal being to develop engaging content for the user.

Linking was also mentioned as a contributing indicator of overly SEO’d sites.  For years, search engine ranking algorithms placed an importance on linking, and in turn, linking strategies were developed to improve the authority of websites. However the rules of the game have changed throughout the years.  Initially, every external link was a good link; then, Google began to recognize bad links or irrelevant links and ignore them.  The latest change that Cutts refers to says that Google will no longer ignore bad links but, rather, penalize a website with bad links.

One might wonder how a webmaster can control all of their external links and regulate who might link to their site.  In reality, Google recognizes that not all external links are controlled by the webmaster and will not penalize a website if it has one or two bad links.  This change will, however, apply to websites which only have two way links, links from link farms, or websites which employ other non organic link building strategies.

Overall, the “over optimization” algorithm change is not a new concept for Google; the only difference is the fact that previously Google ignored these SEO tactics, and now it will penalize websites for utilizing them.  Cutts hinted that the release date would be in the next couple of weeks or month.  So stay alert, and monitor your website performance.

Timely, integrated marketing campaigns are effective ways to boost brand engagement and excitement. E-mail marketing, social media channels, fresh website content and video marketing can generate dramatic results.  And now with April Fool’s representing something of an unofficial internet holiday, The Net Impact marketing and web design teams decided to have some fun and drive traffic with Google Possum.

Google Possum is an April Fool’s Day hoax developed as a parody of Google Panda, the codename for Google’s major search ranking algorithm upgrade from early last year. Google Panda focused on increasing rankings for sites that provided the best user experience, rather than those that used abusive linking or keyword programs, by focusing on metrics like time on site, bounce rate, and pages-per-visit.

Click Here for tips on Optimizing Your Page for Google Panda

Our fake update, Google Possum, instead focused on metrics like the quantity (and furriness!) of cute animal pictures per page, audible user reactions, and absurd quantities of social sharing buttons. While this project was a lot of fun to conceive, create, and film the intent was to get measurable results from an integrated digital marketing campaign.  And please, we beg you, don’t try this at home (it won’t work).

So, was it successful? Well, after thousands of e-mails, the production of a 3 minute video on YouTube, dozens of scheduled social media messages on Facebook and Twitter, and pop-up notification for the homepage, the results are in:

The Google Possum video was the most watched video on our YouTube channel so far this year, competing with several videos already hosted on YouTube for multiple weeks. Traffic to thenetimpact.com increased almost 150% and time-on-site increased 56%. The Google Possum landing page was the most visited page of the month after the Home Page.

As the numbers show, a coordinated and concerted effort across many different digital channels can significantly boost traffic and engagement. If you are looking to build brand awareness or simply create some excitement around your website, talk to the digital marketing experts at The Net Impact to see if an integrated marketing campaign is right for your business!

Founder and chief executive of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg agreed to acquire the photo filtering application company Instagram, often described as a fast, beautiful and fun way to share photos with friends and family.

“It’s important to be clear that Instagram is not going away,” says Kevin Systrom, CEO of Instagram.  They will be working with Facebook to evolve Instagram and build the network.  With Instagram’s quick growth and vibrant community of people from all over the globe, joining with Facebook will help Instagram develop new ideas and support for the app.

There are quite a few speculations of why Facebook decided to acquire Instagram.  Could Facebook be getting nervous about other social media outlets like Pinterest and Twitter? Or did they just want to make it easier for themselves to join in the Instagram fun instead of creating a whole new idea for Facebook?  Now fans can share content on several different networks in a variety of ways.

Let’s look at Twitter and Instagram and how they stand on their own. Twitter allows you to post pictures and keep people updated on your life right now, at this very moment.  Facebook’s similar feature would be the status updates. These updates allow the user to tag their friends in updates, locations and more.

If you look at Instagram, it’s a way to share fun and exciting pictures in a whole new way.  You can become an artist.  You can become the creative mind behind the exciting picture that you took.

The appeal that Instagram brings to Facebook is endless.  There are so many possibilities for how Facebook can develop and improve Instagram.

If you look at the approaches that companies take to solve basic problems in the digital world, Instagram looks pretty strategic. From What the Tech Pundits Don’t Get About Facebook’s $1B Instagram Deal, consider these two competing facts about social-networking and picture taking:

• People take tons of pictures on their smartphones. But almost none of that content gets shared.

• The thing we all love most on the Internet is seeing other people’s pictures.

“For years, we’ve focused on building the best experience for sharing photos with your friends and family,” Mr. Zuckerberg wrote. “Now, we’ll be able to work even more closely with the Instagram team to also offer the best experiences for sharing beautiful mobile photos with people based on your interests.”

Facebook plans to build upon Instagram’s strengths and features while continuing to grow the app independently rather than integrate everything directly into Facebook.  In accordance with Facebook’s mission to make the world more open and connected, joining Instagram with Facebook will continue to lead them in the right strategic direction.

Instagram and Facebook are two ways to stay connected with friends and family and discover new and exciting thing being shared in the world.  Social media is a great way to express what matters to you.

Many research and measurement tools exist to help businesses make better decisions, but using social media monitoring tools can nicely complement those research and measurement tools to expand their use and effectiveness.  We discuss a few examples below:

Keyword Research:

Keyword research tools allow businesses to uncover specific keyword data such as search volume and competitive levels. Some keyword analysis tools even help businesses discover new keyword opportunities based on numerical data. However, using a social media monitoring tool offers qualitative keyword suggestions by monitoring real-life and real-time conversations. Social media monitoring is a great way to examine how and why customers talk about brands.  After identifying new keywords integrate them into your SEO efforts, paid search campaigns and other digital marketing channels.

Lead Generation:

Many users engage in social media when making a decision to solicit feedback from their peers in the social-sphere. When companies monitor service-related keywords that allows them to observe or “listen” to conversations that could become potential lead opportunities. For example, if an auto dent repair company monitors keywords like “hail damage.” They can observe, listen and even communicate with potential customers that might need dent repair services.  See the example below:

Take opportunities like these to start conversations with online communities. Let them know your company is on the web and here to help. Many social media monitoring tools offer demographic user data such as location, gender and interests. Take the time to get to know your potential customers, so you can reach out to them with a targeted message.

Industry Trends:

Discussion threads and forums have huge potential to affect your brand. Following the trends can provide a better understanding of current sentiment surrounding a certain topic and help companies identify advocates or opinion leaders.  This would become a daunting task without the use of social media monitoring tools.  Using social media monitoring tools to track keywords may help companies identify important topics to monitor going forward. Tracking a topic’s viral nature and how long it lives can give insight about its relative importance.

Competitor Tracking:

Along with your own brand, it is imperative to monitor competitors’ brands as well. Tracking competitor brand names can inform social strategy, communicate how competitors respond to users (and vice versa) and help companies forecast future moves.  By monitoring the conversations around your competitor’s brand companies can find other interested and engaged industry advocates who discuss similar services online. These users may be interested in knowing more about your offering and advocating for your brand. Finally, social media monitoring can highlight future opportunities from dissatisfied users who mention another brand in a negative light and may potentially seek a new service, company or brand.

These are just a few ways to integrate social media monitoring into your overall marketing plan. How is your brand using social media monitoring to benefit your entire marketing strategy?

Learn more about how The Net Impact can help with social media monitoring and other social media services.

Google announced that based on information from users or other sources on the web your “organic listing will automatically be updated and the business owner will be sent an email notification about the change”. Google has always given users the option to provide feedback about business information, but owner information outranked that feedback. But now if a user provides information about your business, or Google detects new information from another web source, your listing will be automatically updated. However, Google will send an email to the owner of the listing about the change. This will give you the opportunity to log in to your Google Places account and make updates. If you are running AdWords with location extensions or AdWords Express, your ads will not be affected by any of these automatic updates, although other aspects of your listing may be affected.

According to Google, this new feature is to ensure listings are as accurate as possible because they feel for some business owners, “to update their Google Places account may not always be top of mind”. But, this is a surprising and somewhat problematic update. Many business owners would rather update their own information instead of putting that task in the hands of others, or at the very least be alerted of the change before it happens rather than after. Also, this could be potentially devastating to business owners to have their listing changed erroneously or maliciously.  This article from the New York Times tells a cautionary tale of competitors’ labeling businesses as “reported closed”.

Because these automatic updates expose businesses to possible abuse, owners must now be more diligent about monitoring their Places listings. As a business owner, the best things to do are to make sure your email address in your Google Places account is up-to-date, and to stay on top of emails from Google and to watch your listing closely.

Google Analytics is a free tool that can help website owners track traffic and goals to determine the effectiveness of the website.  According to Google Analytics, “Goal conversions are the primary metric for measuring how well your site fulfills business objectives.”   Google has made setting up goals in Analytics simple and straightforward and a feature all websites should take advantage of to track conversions.

When you think of website goals, the ability to track purchases on e-commerce sites may come to mind first. However, Google Analytics tracking isn’t just limited to monetary goals.   A few examples of goals that Google Analytics allows users to track are:

• Purchases
• Leads (such as filling out a contact form)
• PDF downloads
• Printing or emailing pages
• Sharing content through social media buttons
• Video interactions
• Page visits
• Time on site

Depending on the nature of your site, the goals you choose to measure will vary.  Google Analytics explains that, “A goal conversion is registered once a visitor completes a desired action on your site, such as a registration or a download.”   It is important to create a specific goal completion page if your site does not already have one; an example of this would be a thank you page after a purchase or contact form submission.  When this page is displayed, it notifies Google that a goal conversion has been completed.  If you are tracking interactions, events will need to be setup and some may require additional tracking code. (http://code.google.com/apis/analytics/docs/tracking/eventTrackerGuide.html)

Once you have established which goals to track in Google Analytics, created the appropriate landing pages and event tracking in place, it is time to interpret your data.  Goal tracking allows you to find out if visitors are navigating your site the way you had intended and if they are not, to determine how they are converting.   A few areas to consider:

• Which traffic sources lead to the most goal conversions?  By evaluating which keywords searchers are using to find your site, you can optimize pages based on relevant high traffic keywords.
• Which landing pages are leading to conversions?  Successful landing pages can be assessed and used as models to create new pages and improve upon existing content.
• Which campaigns are leading to goal conversions?  Looking at which campaigns are successfully converting visitors will help you determine whether your email, social media, or PPC campaigns are effective.  Successful campaigns can be used as models for future promotions.
• Which countries, regions, and cities lead to the most goal conversions?   If certain areas are converting more than others, it would be worth experimenting with geo-targeting through PPC, Facebook, or email campaigns.

Whether you are creating a brand new website, or revamping an existing one, it is important to have your goals in mind.  Tracking your goals and adjusting strategies is a great way to ensure that your website is performing at its best.  Setting up and monitoring your goals in Google Analytics are a great place to start.

So with St. Patrick’s Day tomorrow, don’t look for your “pot of gold” at the end of the social media rainbow. Instead, check out five social media strategies from The Net Impact to improve your organization’s luck:

1. Consistency

This element is important to ensuring that when your brand is found on social media, there is an expectation of more great content in the future. A stand-out blog post or YouTube video can bring new eyes to your social media channels, but followers won’t stay long without any follow up.  Post content regularly with a consistent voice and tone.

"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity" - Lucius Annaeus Seneca

2. Connections

Social media is not an “if you build it they will come” proposition. If you want your network to grow and your content to spread, make a concerted effort to connect. This means tweeting and retweeting industry figures in a strategic manner (for instance we always let key individuals know when we’ve mentioned them in a post or presentation), posting in relevant LinkedIn groups, and commenting on related blogs. If you want your brand to be part of the conversation you must first join it!  And don’t forget, sometimes those conversations start offline…crazy, huh?

3. Timeliness

On all social media channels, users share relevant and valuable content. Up-to-date commentary demonstrates your company’s engagement in digital conversation. The value of being “first” to provide content on a relevant topic is undeniable. The first blog in your network reviewing the new iPad is much more likely to be shared than the thirtieth.

4. Distinctiveness

Social Media is a crowded space. With over 100 million active users on Twitter, nearly a billion users on Facebook, and countless blogs covering the internet; it’s tough to stand out. Your network won’t spread your message if users have seen the same content or ideas elsewhere. Don’t be afraid to show your brand’s personality either. After all, it’s called social media for a reason! No other organization has your office culture, your data, or your products and services. Leverage these assets for truly unique content on the web.

5. Quality

Lastly if you want international exposure make sure your content has an international level of quality. This is the overall measure of your credibility for users outside your network. It’s not just intriguing content; it’s accurate data, a professional web design, and unique insights. If you invest in your social media content so will your network.

Ultimately, improving your luck in social media involves a deliberate process. Make sure your brand is prepared to capitalize on opportunities when they arise! Any other thoughts on how to improve your social media luck? Let us know in the comments.

Image from Summary Newspaper