The Net Impact

The Net Impact’s Internet Marketing team attended the leading search and social marketing event, Search Engine Strategies San Francisco on August 16th-19th. A part of Connected Marketing Week, the West Coast SES Conference and Expo moved from San Jose back to its roots in San Francisco. SES attracts thousands of Internet marketing professionals who attend educational sessions and labs pertaining to the web marketing industry. This was the third West Coast SES Conference The Net Impact Internet marketing team attended.

The subjects covered at SES included: SEO, PPC management, social media, keyword research, local advertising, mobile engagement, link building, duplicate content, online video, site optimization, usability, and high-level strategy. The conference also featured an exhibition hall with over 100 companies, networking events and parties. The Net Impact team attended various informational sessions including: Search, PR and the Social Butterfly, Secrets of Top-Converting Websites, SEO through Blogs & Feeds, How to Become a Link Magnet, Mobile Marketing Strategies, and more.

“One of the most interesting things I learned was about the importance of citations in Google’s new organic caffeine algorithm,” said Lauren Pesko, Internal Marketing Associate at The Net Impact. “Google is now looking quite a bit at social networking sites and how many times your website or blog has been mentioned or linked to. This is really great to learn from an SEO standpoint. The speakers emphasized the importance of adding feeds to your “static” website and turning it into a blog. This can have an SEO benefit because Google’s new caffeine algorithm is giving weight to blogs due to the fact that they offer up to date information – caffeine is all about the real time.”

The first and perhaps the most memorable part of the week was keynote speaker – Jeffrey Hayzlett, Celebrity CMO, Best Selling Author & Former Eastman Kodak CMO. Jeff discussed the changes in the world of marketing and changes his former company, Kodak, had to undergo in order to compete with its competition and adapt to the growth of technology. To achieve this, Kodak’s brand image had to shift from an “old” and trustworthy to a more “modern” brand, while not abandoning their core values. Kodak was actually the first company to hire a Chief Listening Officer. Kodak tweets in 12 different languages over 120 countries, while monitoring all online communication surrounding their brand name. Jeff preached that “passion is not a substitute for planning” and that “creative people should never compromise what they do, or how they do it.” 

“Jeff’s presentation really resonated with me and was a motivating beginning  to our week at SES. His underlying message of the importance of keeping creative people engaged, challenged and free to make mistakes in order to implement positive change is a concept that people from all professions and organizations, large and small, should take into account,” said Web Account Mangager at The Net Impact, Angela Trokey.

The Net Impact Internet marketing team is looking forward to putting together an informational session to share with clients and friends what they learned at SES this September!

“This has been an exciting year for the ever-changing Internet marketing industry,” said Project Manager at The Net Impact, Mandy Christanell. “At SES we learned how to implement proven techniques for transforming tactics into proven strategies that garner results for our clients today, while ensuring they stay ahead of the competition tomorrow.”

Looking to use new tools to more effectively get the word out on your next event?

Whether you are marketing at a trade show, regional conference or an informal “tweet up”, an important part of many companies’ marketing strategy is event marketing, which focuses on face-to-face interaction by attending, sponsoring, exhibiting or speaking at tradeshows, industry networking events, conferences, etc.  Even though the focus is face-to-face interaction, effectively integrating social media marketing into your online marketing strategy provides a great opportunity to increase the value and success of an event.

Whether you are marketing an international trade show or an informal ‘tweet-up’, there are a variety of social media tools out there that can help you boost attendance and generate widespread buzz for your event marketing efforts. Social media marketing efforts can aid your event marketing campaign before, during and after the event.

Before the Event. Event planners need to focus on expanding their universe of prospective attendees while attracting new attendees, exhibitors, sponsors and advertisers. Social media can help build interest and awareness around your event.

The use of social media platforms, such as video marketing, EventBrite, Facebook events, e-mail marketing campaigns, tweets and Blog Marketing aid in your marketing efforts and drive targeted traffic to your event’ s landing page. When sharing links to your event through all your social networks consider using a shortened URL that you can track, so you can get an early gauge on conversion (what percentage of your invitees register).

During the Event. Social media can broaden the conference’s engagement for attendees and those who are unable to attend in-person through the use of social networks. You have probably been to an event where they were broadcasting live tweets or other status updates during the event. Microblogging formats like twitter allow attendees to comment on the proceedings as they occur. Ask attendees to post to your photo galleries, either on your site or on public forums like Flickr – This is a great way to generate buzz and encourage engagement at your event.

Enhance the reach of your event by making content about it socially shareable. To this end, create a unique event hashtag (such as #AMACONF) to aid searchability across social media platforms. Hashtags  enable Tweets about the conference or event to be organized and easy to find and follow.

After the event. Social media enables event marketers to remain connected to attendees, extend the impact of exhibitors and advertisers, and market other products including future events. Post videos, photos and other content on your site to attract a broader audience and to help build a community to contact for future events. Enhance live events by providing concurrent commentary and capturin ideas using Twitter, live blogging and live streaming. For example, moderators at live panels can incorporate comments and questions sourced from Twitter. Encourage speakers to share their presentations via a service like Slideshare following an event. Not only does this extend the reach of your content from this year’s event, but it can serve as an enticement to get people to register for next year.

Remember: As with any marketing program, it’s critical to measure your results to determine their effectiveness. Among the salient measures to track are participants, web analytics content sharing, media attention, revenue and expenses. Also, consider doing a survey following your event to find out what you did right, and where you could use some improvement. Keep it short and sweet, but get feedback as close to the event completing as follows. If you can offer an incentive for completing the survey, your chances of getting a response are much better. Use feedback to improve your next event.

In conclusion, social media can be an important component in the event marketing mix since it has the potential to provide benefits for both marketers and consumers before after and during an event. By using social media to enhance your events, you can extend your reach while providing additional means to connect with your firm.

Check out The Net Impact’s social media marketing services to help boost your next event!

User Testing – A Small Change can Make a Big Difference

Let’s  say you have just launched a new website.  Your marketing team loves the web design.  Your IT team is thrilled with the security and efficiency and the C class folks are all lining up to salute.  It’s perfect right?  Maybe, maybe not.  What about taking that quantum leap and testing your site with your intended audience, your customers?  Or, as The Net Impact recently determined for the City of Wentzville MO, why not test the site from the perspective of your citizens?

When it comes to a municipality website, the usability of the site by its citizens is a necessary condition for performance.  If the  website is difficult to navigate, people leave. If a landing page fails to clearly state what the municipality offers and what users can do on that page, people leave. If users do not like the access to pertinent informationof the website, they leave. If a website’s information is hard to find or doesn’t answer their questions, the visitors will be left hanging or will  soon be clicking away to a differetn website. Notice a pattern here?

So how do you determine if your website is user-friendly? User testing allows you to roleplay how citizens will navigate your site. At the same time, you record their comments and responses to their efforts to navigate and move through the site in order to accomplish a designed task.  Sound complicated?  It’s really not.   

For an excellent example of  usability testing review the  recent case study conducted by The Net Impact for the City of Wentzville’s website.  After The Net Impact  launched the  The City of Wentzville’s new website, the city worked with our Web marketing team to conduct a series of usability tests to gauge how user-friendly the website’s navigation and overall experience was for visitors and to get a better idea of ideal traffic flow for visitor satisfaction. We created a series of scenarios and tasks for testers to complete on the City of Wentzville’s website.  These tasks were specifically designed to take testers through the navigation pathways of the site and to recreate the experience of a typical visitor to the website.  An impartial  third party service was enlisted to select a broad sample of testers.  A random sampling of testers, with diverse backgrounds including gender, age,  income level, and computer skill level, was determined.  This group best represented the  profiles of actual visitors to the site. As testers performed each task, their mouse movements, clicks and live feedback were all recorded.

Once the user tests were complete, our team of Internet marketing specialist analyzed videos and tester feedback to generate a recommendation report and next steps in order to improve the user experience. From the results we concluded that overall the testers were impressed by the amount of information provided.  Several commented that they wished their own city provided this information and thought this site set the bar high for other municipalities.  However, there were still ample comments from  testers reflecting confusion and difficulty in  finding information .

The Net Impact’s recommendations included consolidating menus, eliminating redundant information and making links to highly requested information more obvious. Some of the tester’s comments also regarded  web design.  The majority of the testers found the site aesthetically pleasing.  Many liked the colors and the rotating photos, but wanted to see more pictures of the city. In addition to suggesting Wentzville add more images to display the character of the  city, The Net Impact suggested different options for the city to make other tools, such as their community calendar easier to find and more simple for visitors to use. – Read more TNI  Case Studies

In conclusion, based on the invaluable feedback from the user testing, our team continues to work with the City of Wentzville to revise aspects of their website to in order to continue to increase effectiveness and functionality. 

Bottom line: User testing is an important aspect of any Internet marketing campaign. The Net Impact employs usability testing as part of our analytics methodology in order to construct  complete online marketing strategies. Remember as well that website testing is an ongoing process, but when managed properly it will drive your efforts and help visitorsrealize a greater satisfaction with your municipal website. Contact The Net Impact today to learn how we can help you find the most effective way to make your website visitors take action.

Strapped for time, money and manpower, more and more nonprofits are turning to social media marketing to generate mass interest at minimal cost. The social media space provides the non-profit sector with the opportunity to connect and collaborate quickly and inexpensively, and without the help of big company sponsorships. Many non-profits are leveraging social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, to connect with their supporters online by crowdsourcing ideas, providing feedback and monitoring conversations regarding their organization.

An excellent example of a non-profit organization that leveraged social media to enhance their marketing efforts is Epic Change. Have you heard of TweetsGiving? It was one of the first charity initiatives on Twitter. In November 2008, during the week of the Thanksgiving holiday, Epic Change leveraged Twitter to raise money ($10,000 goal) to help build a classroom in Tanzania. In 48 hours, that goal was met from 336 unique donors. Not only was money raised, Epic Change found a slew of new volunteers who were interested in the causes the organization seeks to support. Why did it work? It was more than just a sheer charity initiative. Using the holiday where most Americans express their thanks, a part of the TweetsGiving initiative was to act as a creativity catalyst, asking people to tweet what they were thankful for with the #tweetsgiving hashtag. All in all, there were over 3,500 tweets expressing gratitude for something in their lives.

Stacey  Monk, Founder and CEO of Epic Change says, “Social media is making change possible. With social media, we’re able to hear totally new voices, who might not have had access to mainstream channels, which represents a real shift in power, and where change can originate.”

From dipping their toes into the water with a low-investment campaign to diving off the cliff, today many nonprofits are actively exploring social media. But a common problem many non-profits face is that they blindly leap into social media without implementing a strategy. Without a well created Internet marketing strategy, there is no way to measure your online efforts. This leaves the non-profits at a loss to justify their investment of time, money and resources, or reap valuable insights to improve their efforts. Whether you measure social media success based on how many new volunteers you recruit, the number of sponsorships or donations, the dialogue shared among your online community, or the influx in web traffic, fans and followers, it is vital to measure your results against clear marketing objectives, just as you would with any marketing campaign.

When starting a social media campaign for you non-profit, remember: a simple, yet powerful mission and message can take a campaign far. Non-profits on social networking sites should set goals, update consistently, become a part of the conversation, build community and create value. Without a clear vision and well thought out strategy, it is difficult to encourage an audience to participate. If the time and energy are strategically spent to create a social community, others will help spread your message and your desired results will come.

Recently The Net impact teamed with St. Louis based non-profit, the Karla Smith Foundation to help build online aware for their campaign event with BringChange2Mind, a non-profit superheaded by award-winning actress Glenn Close that works to combat the stigma of mental illness. KSF and BringChange2Mind combined forces to host an unprecedented mental health awareness and anti-stigma event, “Change a Mind, Change a Life”, in St. Louis, Missouri.

The Karla Smith Foundation was in need of a strategy to build online buzz around the event and direct traffic to the event website. To quickly and effectively generate awareness around the campaign, The Net Impact worked closely with the Karla Smith Foundation to create the website, www.changeamind.org, for the highly anticipated event. In order to direct traffic to the website and create online awareness, The Net Impact implemented a social media marketing strategy for the campaign, which included a strong presence on Twitter and Facebook. The KSF social networking sites were updated daily with exciting news regarding the event, such as notices of upcoming media appearances, videos and pictures, and sponsorship information. The KSF Facebook and Twitter continued to see steady growth in fans and followers as well an increase in the level of fan engagement in the weeks leading up to the event.

As a result of the social media marketing campaign, KSF was provided with the opportunity to share valuable information with their existing community, increase interest around their event, catch the attention of local media, build their brand awareness and attract new fans and followers to get involved with their organization. Most importantly, the KSF Facebook page now serves as a platform for their online community to share personal experiences and give valuable feedback in real time.

In conclusion, while many non-profits still have a long way to go, the integration of social media in their marketing efforts can help these organizations meet and exceed many different goals. Social  media is a platform that allows people to participate in a conversation about what they think, feel and care about, making social media and excellent space for the non-profit sector to continue to explore.

 Online videos are an effective platform to share valuable information, while providing companies with the opportunity to create hype around their brand. For example, the King and Prince Beach and Golf Resort created a 3D flyover video of their popular Georgia golf course. This innovative video drives traffic to their website, markets their golf course and engages their online community. Check out the video here.   

Online videos are not only an effective marketing strategy; they are also an effective tool for search engine optimization. Search engines are showing videos in their search results, but what you may not be aware of is how many people actually go to YouTube, and other video sharing sites, and search for specific information as opposed to using a search engine. For this reason, it is just as important to stand out from the crowd on video channels as well as in the search engines. Video sharing web sites use tags for search engines to find them. You must include your main keywords in these tags if you want your video to be indexed by the search engines. 

 In order for your videos to be found by the right audience, be sure to research your top keyword phrases and use these in your upload descriptions and titles. Find out what your targeted audience is searching for and then use a keyword tool to identify keywords and phrases that you can really dominate. Keyword research is critical because it will help people find your content and over time will mean increase your rankings. Doing this crucial research and tracking click-thrus and website conversions will only help you to secure your most cost-effective keywords and phrases and boost the visibility of your videos. 

Blendtec, a company that produces blenders. The company received millions of YouTube views and great press for blending objects like iPhones and wood blocks, proving its product was durable. Not a bad way to establish your product’s credibility and get some attention, right? 

But don’t worry, you don’t have to blend objects or perform insane stunts to create an effective video. You just have to build compelling content and use your videos to spread the word to the community you want to target. If your content is compelling, and you promote your videos through social media channels and other marketing and public relations efforts, you can increase your product’s visibility and influence. 

Just remember, the goal of video marketing is to create short, attractive, effective videos based on solid keywords that convert viewers into customers and stand the test of time.  

 Has your company incorportated video marketing into your online marketing strategy? 

Suggested music to listen to while reading – http://www.jango.com/music/Tag+Team?l=0

Can Social Media Help Build Meaningful Business Relationships?

If you think online social networking is solely for the younger demographic, think again. Thanks to new social networking sites that enable professionals in a wide variety of industries, such as marketing, finance and even medicine, to build meaningful business relationships, social media is now flourishing in the business world.

The Institute for Corporate Productivity recently held a survey and found 65% of business professionals are connecting to social networking websites. Business executives also have turned to online forums, email lists and message boards to sound off on information related to their industries. Of those respondents who do not currently utilize social networks, the top reason (37%) is simply that they don’t know what networks to use. The majority of respondents (59%) said they would likely use social networks if they knew that such use would assist their professional development (31% say they already do), and a full 77% would welcome using them if they though the networks could aid organizational efficiency.

Millions of professionals already turn to broad-based networking sites like LinkedIn to swap job details and contact information, often for job seeking purposes. Recently, LinkedIn reached 43 million active users, with the average age of its members being 41 years. With the growing use of social networking by business professionals, there is a growing number of social networking sites popping up that focus on business users and meeting their needs, that go beyond the broad-based networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn. There are also many niche social networking sites for specific industries, such as legal and medical.

For example: When radiation oncologist Michael Tomblyn recently saw a 21-year-old patient whose eye was protruding from its socket, he turned to his fellow physicians for help. Dozens of doctors offered suggestions, HIV-associated lymphoma or a cocaine-associated sinus problem, eventually steering him toward the correct answer: rhabdomyosarcoma, a fast-growing cancer most often observed in young children. Surprisingly, this diagnosis didn’t take place in a doctor’s lounge. It happened on Sermo.com, the largest online physician community in the US, where practicing US physicians collaborate on difficult cases and exchange observations about drugs, devices and clinical issues., which Dr. Tomblyn and 25,000 doctors like him visit regularly to consult with colleagues specializing in areas from dermatology to psychiatry.

Sermo.com is just one of many targeted social networking sites for professionals. Another example is, Nexly.com, a web-based community designed for the B2B marketplace that provides access to tools and information businesses need in order to better connect. While community tools, like LinkedIn are useful for recruiting purposes, Tom Carlock, CEO of Nexly saw the need for a community created specifically for finding service providers. Nexly.com was created to simplify the process in finding qualified outsourcing services that will results in better buying results.

Nexly is currently in the Beta testing process, and on February 16, 2010, they held a focus group at The Net Impact’s office, in order to validate assumptions and biases in the Beta phase.Check out TNI’s Interview with CEO of Nexly.com, Tim Carlock, on TNI’s YouTube Channel!

Even in the midst of the social media revolution, the behaviors and networking needs of business professionals have not changed, the media simply has. In other words, business professionals are meeting age-old networking needs in new ways. Given the new functions, features and real-time access of social media, social networks have transformed the way  professionals establish and maintain their business relationships.

As more and more business professionals turn to social networks to meet their business objectives, we can only expect to see more targeted social networking sites for professionals continue to pop up on the web. While nothing replaces the quality of face-to-face meetings, social media is a new way to initiate and build relationships and thus, continue to grow one’s professional network.

Do you have any other social networking sites for business that you use?

Which one has worked the best for your business?

Touchdown Google!

If you watched the Super Bowl Sunday night, you saw at least two ground-breaking events: Of course, the New Orleans Saints took home their first Superbowl Trophy, and the Search Engine Giant, Google, stepped into the world of traditional advertising.  Over the past decade, more often than not, the Super Bowl commercials have generated more buzz than the teams competing. Even when the football isn’t especially great – the commercials usually are, and this year Google took full advantage of the advertising world’s most anticipated event, with one of the most surprising commercials of the night.

Perhaps Saturday’s tweet by Google CEO Eric Schmidt put it best –“Hell has indeed frozen over”. Google ran its first major television ad, and during the Super Bowl, none the less. It was an unexpected move by the search engine leader, who retains a search market share exceeding 70 percent, to spend an estimated $5 million to have a 1 minute advertisement aired during the third quarter.  Google brings in billions from online ads but has steered clear of having a traditional marketing strategy for its own brand, even as industry competitors, such as Microsoft and Yahoo, continue to spent millions on tv and print advertising to compete with them. Google’s sheer size is in disproportion with their advertising budget. The world-known search engine has been mainly promoting itself on the web, via company blogs, and of course by being a constant subject of media reports and countless blog posts.

Google’s heartfelt ad, “Parisian Love”, consists of a series of 11 searches, which come together to tell a compelling story through search phrases. The commercial tells the story of a romance helped along by a series of Google searches conducted by a young man. The subtle, yet powerful marketing message resonated with viewers, and in some cases (myself included) left them a bit teary eyed. The commercial illustrates the story of a young man who finds love after a simple plan to study abroad in Paris turns into love, marriage and a need to know how to assemble a crib.

The buzz-worthy ad has left many viewers comparing it to competitor commercials and many are left confused as to why Google felt it needed to make such a dramatic move to promote its best known product, a product with no real marketing problems. Of course, not everyone thought it was a wise investment for the brand who’s name is almost a verb in the world of search. In the words of YouTube commenter, ShadyHady, “Google commercials? Isn’t that rather like, say, oxygen commercials or knife and fork commercials?” But with Google’s approach to internal marketing, one Super Bowl slot may be efficient when it comes to coverage vs. expenditure.

While the commercial probably did not introduce the Google brand to anyone for the first time, here are a few reasons Google may have made the dive into television advertising:
 

The buzz. People are talking about the ad right?  While the majority of the media coverage has not been about the actual ad content, but rather the fact that there was an ad, it is still coverage. And while it may be short lived, Google is the most talked about search engine at the moment.

Make a statement. Amid the over the top million dollar mini-sagas that make up the line-up of Super Bowl commercials, Google’s ad simply explained what the search engine does and showed just how well it works. This message mirrors the search engines’ simple, yet highly effective performance, which is the very basis of the Google brand.
 

Appeal to advertisers. Some businesses still view online advertising with suspicion. No matter how big Google already is, a Super Bowl slot reminds people that it’s a major mainstream player in the advertising world.

Reinforce their brand. Many commercials serve simply to remind people who the market leader is, rather than inform them about a new product or promotion. World-known brands find it helpful to remind the public about themselves in a positive light — especially on the Super Bowl.

Keep up with the competition. Google may be feeling some heat from Bing and Yahoo’s new campaigns, as well as Apple’s successful advertising. Especially with the growing number of Microsoft Bing search engine “attack ads”, Google may have decided to make their mark in the advertising world. Marty Orzio, partner and chief creative office of ad agency Gotham in New York, called the ad:

 ”A classic little love story told beautifully” that highlighted why Google was different from the competition. If you think about Bing or any of their competition, nobody else can say they are playing an important role in people’s lives,” he said. “They have not have been around long enough to have an impact like that. Google is claiming territory that only they can claim, which is why I thought it was absolutely brilliant.”

In conclusion, what Google’s memorable and somewhat controversial Super Bowl presence may signal is that after relying heavily on word of mouth marketing alone, the company is finally learning how to market itself via traditional paths, something that will take a great deal of stategic planning, and  will be crucial as its business diversifies and competitors continue to gain a foothold in the search industry. Using only its own outlets for promotion, such as YouTube, isn’t enough for a company looking to reach a broad mix of consumers. Google is clearly skilled at selling online ads, but formulating a marketing strategy for itself, well it remains a work in progress.

Missed Google’s Super Bowl commerical? Watch it Here.

Here’s some Internet Marketing and Web Design Yuletide Cheer from The Net Impact …

‘Twas the night before Christmas and all cross the ‘net,
Marketers were hoping, Click-throughs, their site to get.
The stockings were hung by the modem with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas would leave new software.

The retailers were twittering instead of in their beds,
While visions of last minute shoppers danced in their heads.
The online forums were busy with commotion,
as I had just settled down for the latest Facebook promotion.

When in my email inbox there arose such a buzz,
I logged off my Facebook page to see what this fuss was.
Then what to my tired eyes should appear,
But an inbox packed full of late holiday cheer!

O’ how my Google analytics had flew,
So many hits, I didn’t know what to do!�
With visitors and goals increasing so quick,
I knew in a second it had to be the pay per click.

“Now Google, Bing and Facebook searches are mounting!
My metrics are filled with clicks to be a counting!”

Now my search engine rankings on a daily basis fly,
I’ve never had so many potential clients interested to buy.
So many visitors’ my website did attract,
I knew all this online success was due to The Net Impact.

My web design looks great on every PC,
This has caused quite the jump in visit frequency.
TNI knows great customer experience is all in the details,
This is why I am bringing in the sales!

The Net Impact’s wish is this: may your site bring you gold,
And may all of your holiday wishes end up above the fold! 

The Net Impact’s Holiday Gift to You!

Interested in learning more about Google Analytics?

In light of the Holiday Season, The Net Impact would like to offer 2-hour Google Analytics training sessions for only $99. Our specialists will train your employees on the Google Analytics system and on how to use the reporting for success. Training sessions can be arranged as webinars or off-site meetings based upon your company’s needs. Contact The Net Impact to find out more about our training session special and how to take your analytics to the next level!

What’s been going on at The Net Impact? – Check out our December Newsletter to find out!