I’m continuing to write about what I learned from Content Critical. Last post I discussed analyzing your audience, the current one, and the one you wanted. Today I want to discuss evaluating your current content.

Take a look at the content already up on your site. Are you updating your web content on a schedule? Do you blog regularly? Make sure you look at the cost/benefit of your content and schedule. The great thing about web content is that you don’t have all the costs that we associate with printing content. However there are different costs that need to be considered, such as, the cost of your time. How much time do you spend on your content, and is that a price that is worth paying? Do you have to go through an editing process with other people? Do you pay someone else to write the content for your site or write something yourself that might be less professional? Compare your current content against your prioritized reader list. What needs to change so you are writing for the right audience?

I challenge you today to read through some of your current content and try to get a feel for the direction its taking. Now, measure that against the direction you want to take. Are they the same?

Image by mshades

In a continuation from my last post, I’d like to continue discussing things I learn from Content Critical.

Identifying your Readers:

Have you really taken the time to identity your readers. First, take time to analyze. There’s lots of great services out there (Google Analytics, Crazy Egg, Woopra) who can help you get this information:

• Who is visiting your site now?
• Who is your competitor targeting?
• Who is the leader in the industry and what kind of people read that site?
• Who do you want to read your site?

Once you’ve got a clear idea of your data, don’t just sit there, talk to them. Survey your readers by emaiing them, polling in your blogs, or just contacting past customers. Here are the questions you want to ask:

• What’s the most critical thing you need?
• How do you want the information presented?
• Ho are you getting the content you need right now?
• Do they think you are a legitimate source for this content?

After you’ve gotten these answers from your own and other people’s readers prioritize the readers you want:

• List potential customers (those you want, and those you discovered)
• Then Prioritize them: first by who is reading you most right now, and then by who you want to market to
• Using the desired list, narrow your scope to the top 2-3 readers

How do you analyze traffic and try to reach your target audience?

Image by http://flickr.com/photos/veganstraightedge/

I write a lot about social media and what it can do for business. Today I want to get down to the heart of what it means for a company to be involved. First, as times continue to change, as the baby-boomers retire and the kids of yesterday are becoming adults, the demands customers make change as well. Right now 51% of adult social media users think companies should maintain a social media presence (from emarketer).

More and more customers are expecting to have a relationship with a company, not just one or two buying experiences. They want to be able to ask questions, get immediate answers, and know what’s coming up. Unfortunately, the increase in demand for interaction is not being met. Most companies are far behind, failing to keep pace.

Why have a social media presence? Because as our world becomes more and more digital, we are losing that sense of personal communication. We call customer service and get a recorded voice. Recorded voices call our answering machines. We receive automated email. Most customers don’t have the time to browse a store and ask a sales rep a million questions that they may or may not have an answer to. But if a customer can find time online to interact with a social presence and feel like someone knowledge is spending personal time with them, it makes all the difference.

Softpedia wrote an article that says that 9.5 billion text messages were sent between Jan. 1, 2008 to Jun. 30, 2008, setting daily and hourly records. Johnny Makkar at Love for Biz also wrote a post saying 94% of all text messages get read.  Why? Its simple, its fast, you can immediately digest the information and not skip a beat.

Text messaging is huge and continuing to grow but no one is bothing talking about it. Instead the new big thing is Mobile Marketing. In the first 3 months of 2008 over 11.7 million smartphones were sold (that’s before the iphone 3G released its 1 million units in 3 days) and Digital Home says smartphones have increased in sales by 84% compared to last year. I admit I didn’t understand all the hype until I got my own Smartphone this past summer. Suddenly, I do everything on my phone.

But even before I got a smartphone, I followed the trends. A debate has begun about the future of mobile marketing. So far I have heard two arguments:

1. All websites should have a mobile version because more and more people are surfing from their phones right now.
2. Mobile marketing will be obsolete in a few years because smartphones will have screens that can handle a complete website.

I just want to know what you think. Where is mobile marketing going? What should web designers be telling their clients about mobile accessibility for their sites?  Is mobile marketing just for “big” companies? Texting is simple and everyone can use it but mobile marketing is still a brand new feature to most businessmen. Please share your thoughts on the Mobile Marketing Debate!

Step back Linked-In, there’s a new kid on the block. If you have not yet heard of N10, you should try it.

N10 is more than just another site to list people you know. Here are some features that make this site unique:

• Track Referrals: Ever meet someone and want to send them a referral but forget? This site allows you to link two people together in your network and then tracks how many referrals you’ve given them.
• Categorize Your Associations: There are lots of different reasons for networking. This site allows you to categorize people based on how they network and why you network with them. They even have a cute little quiz you can take.
• Find Out Who Your Most Powerful Assets are: Not only does N10 track the referrals you give but also the referrals you receive.
• Tips and Training: Need help on your one-on-one or think your 30 second intro needs some work? N10 has beautiful presentations that can help you be a better networker.
• Post Proof: One thing Linked-In doesn’t allow you to do is post examples of your work. N10 lets you post articles, video, images and audio.

Why am I excited about N10? I don’t think N10 is here to compete with Linked-in. Like all social media, both sites have their value. But the ability to instantly connect two people I know in a simple way is something that Linked-in doesn’t really provide. That alone makes N10 worth my time. Of course, the opportunity to actually post my work is awesome too. That and I like to keep my network organized, so the category function is incredible.

I had the opportunity to meet with Jim Penny, N10’s creator. He created the site based on his book: Networking Genius. Jim Penny has years of experience in networking and wants to make what he’s learned available to everyone else. He’s excited about the potential his system has.

The site is still in beta but I can only imagine that it will continue to grow and change into an invaluable tool for any serious networker. If you are in my personal circle expect to be receiving and invite from me so that we can send each other referrals more simply online!

Do you know your market?

Recently a client asked me about the Hispanic-American statistics online. I was impressed by this question and decided to do some research. In Texas, this is a growing demographic. Many companies in the Southwest offer services in Spanish to try and tap into this market. It turns out internet is making this particular client simpler to reach.

In May, I looked into a breakdown of the Hispanic-American market in regards to media. eMarketer offers a very comprehensive article with multiple graphs on the subject. Over all, it shows that Hispanic-Americans use more media than other Americans, even though they often have more limited access to the internet.

eMarketer predicts that the US Hispanic population will grow to 30 million by 2012. We are at 23 million currently. That’s 7 million in the next four years.

In business terms, what does this mean? Its always smart to be aware of your audience; what their needs and wants are. If you already market to Hispanic-Americans, it might be time to focus a little harder on your online efforts. The rest of us should make sure we are open and accessible to all races and cultures. The internet truly cuts race out of the picture for many businesses (and it is truly a blessing that we can be colorblind). Yet, we should still stay vigilant to the market and where it is heading.

The Hispanic market is expanding online. Your business might not be targeting this demographic but if you are interested in finding out more about your niche I highly suggest using eMarketer to track down your perfect client and their internet habits.

Let’s start the week with a simple little survey. What do you think the most important part of an online marketing strategy is? It is a good website? Great content? SEO (links, keywords), paid advertisement, social media, a brand name recognized offline? Let’s talk about what you think the heart of an online marketing campaign is, or what it should be.

I’m very curious about what the “key” is. I want to know what Veribatim as a company should focus on to make our clients happier. I want to discover what people feel is important so I can spend more time blogging about those things.

Just back from vacation so I’m start my week with discussion. You hear from me all the time, now I want to hear from you!

Today I want to chat a little bit about why “non-techie” people should blog more. As my example I want to spotlight a new client of ours, Sharon Jones who owns Guardian Pet Sitters and has just started her own blog for pet lovers.

I chose this blog because it has nothing to do with programming, technology or the internet. Right now its hard to tell how many tech blogs are out there but the percentages are high. Personal blogs, news blogs and tech seem to take up the largest chunk of the 78,703,197 blogs identified by statistical websites (source from blogpulse).

In the past two months here are the percentage of posts that Blogpulse has tracked with the keyword “Internet” compared to the keyword “Pets”.

But let’s compare that to the number of people in America who own pets. The National Pet Owners Survey 2007-2008 cites 63% of U. S. Households own pets (source: APPMA). So the number of people who might be interested in tips on pet care far out weighs the number of blogs marketed towards them.

Many businesses have something unique to offer the blogging community. They offer a service or information about something that not many other people are blogging about. Even less cuddly businesses like lawyers, technicians, or CPAs have plenty of worthwhile information and very little competition. In fact I would subscribe to an interesting blog on any of the above topics because they meet a need in my life. Check out Sharon’s blog and consider what unique perspective your business could bring to the table.

I’ve reviewed almost a dozen social media sites for you. I’ve listed all their pros and cons, but why bother with social media?

Social media is not traditional media and many business have trouble figuring out exactly what to do with it because they can’t label it. Mack Collier talks about this in his article Why is Social Media so Hard for Businesses?

“The problem that I think many businesses have, is how they view
social media. I believe many businesses (of all sizes) see social
media sites and tools as new channels to publishmarketing channels.

Nothing could be further from the truth.”

Its true. Social media is its own unique genre of marketing. It is a new way to interact with customers and clients. It is an invaluable tool for feedback, polling and reviews. Did you know even the Pope uses social media to get his message across?

So why aren’t more businesses taking advantage of this free marketing tool?

Time: Businesses think social media is a waste of time. They don’t see an instant result so they aren’t willing to pursue it (despite the fact that many forms of advertising have a time lapse). Or they are unwilling to devote the time. I’m of the opinion you either make time or you hire someone to do it for you, internally or externally because the return on investment is huge.

Fear: We fear what we don’t understand. Many business, even mainstream ones don’t feel like they are up-to-date with technology. Smaller companies are worried about the time and energy it will take to get involved.

Knowledge: Too many business just don’t know these avenues exist or–worse!–they don’t think their clients aren’t using them.

Pride: I read a study on SEO once that said that in 2006 NIKE had not optimized their website and when you searched for NIKE tennis shoes, they weren’t even in the first page of links. I’m not sure if that is the case now, but imagine not even bothering because “you don’t need more business” or “your brand is built offline”. Social media is a way to gain more SEO and if you think your company just doesn’t need it, you should really evaluate your marketing stategy and see what else is out of date.

So why do it? Check out this article about how Firefox used social media to break a world record. And if that doesn’t hit you, go to a site like eMarkerter and start researching your target audience. Then decide how useful social media can be.

Get Started: It doesn’t matter where you start, just do it. Read some of my recent reviews, find a media that matches your style and go for it. Social media will only grow your traffic, so what can it hurt?

The past few posts I’ve been focusing my research and attention on the phenomenon of social media. I have to admit it fascinates me, but the goal of course is to make it work, from a business stand point. How can online social networking help your business? And how do you choose from the hundreds of sites that make this available?

I’m going to deal with a number of well-known sites, each one I have reviewed in the last few weeks. Now I’m going to list out each service’s pros and cons so they can all be compared.

Pros:

• Networking Intensive
• Open and chatty community
• real time answers.

Cons:

• Time intensive
• Navigation not intuitive
• Leans towards the internet savvy

Pros:

• Great way to “poll”
• Close to Real Time but simple to use
• Ability to automatically feed blog posts

Cons:

• Too much down time
• Often Tweeple are more interested in getting follower than networking
• Superfluous information

Pros:

• Community Opportunity
• Clean Profile look - user friendly
• Ability to create applications, events and blog posts

Cons:

• Audience not “marketing” friendly
• Networking more social
• Ability to be tagged in notes and images that may not be work appropriate

Pros:

• Massive Audience
• Forum opportunity
• Widely-Accepting to advertising

Cons:

• Spammy
• “Bathroom wall of the internet” - reputation isn’t great
• Friend Collectors instead of clients

Pros:

• Simple, Clean, Business-friendly
• Opportunity to get business feedback
• Chance to get reviewed by clients

Cons:

• People may “reject” your link because they don’t remember you
• Many users don’t check-up on their profile regularly
• Not all people network with others they actually know

Pros:

• Viral effect for blogs
• Simple way to get noticed
• Easy to use

Cons:

• Many people “digg” things because their friends do, not because they like it
• Hitting the front page of Digg has been known to crash websites from too much traffic
• Millions of submission to compete with

Pros:

• Easy for any website
• Allows for site indexing
• Allows for reviews and keywords

Cons:

• Takes a little more time
• Can be bad for niche sites with advertising
• Allows the opportunity for people to rate you negatively

Pros:

• One of the longest standing Social Bookmarking sites
• Allows you to import bookmarks
• Ability to share of keep private based on user needs

Cons:

• Usefulness is merely just an extra link without good user connections
• A hassle without a toolbar extension
• Format is not instinctive

Are there any other social media sites you’d like to see reviewed and added to this list? Let me know what business tools you use.