I have been building my network of those I am  following and those who are following me (really it is not as creepy as it sounds). I can now say that I get the concept and how Twitter has gained its popularity so quickly.  I have made some interesting connections with people, and I have gained some great insights into topics I am interested in. It is a really fun networking tool and it can really help bring traffic to your web assets because let’s face it, at the end of the day we need traffic to our cash registers.

A few things that I have uncovered that get lost in translation in the world of Twitter:
-Facebook profile updates and Tweets are not the same thing and do not translate well (I have had many Facebook friends ask me what language I speak when I am posting a note from Twitter to my facebook profile).  (I have since removed that application).
-It takes time to build a network of people worth following
-there is a lot of  noise between good posts
-it can be very distracting to monitor and engage in a conversation that never ends!

Using social media tools such as Twitter can offer marketers direct access to a base of customers that they may not otherwise be able to reach.  With the economic times as they are however, I would recommend resources to be allocated towards the following online tactics, and in this order before starting a full out social media marketing strategy that includes Twitter, facebook, YouTube or any other channel.  Without a solid foundation, and a solid transactional asset (the website), the new tools can be simply a distraction.

1. Ensure the Website is fully optimized for both search engines and users. (look at SEO programs and ensure all content and creative is up to date, search engine friendly, and most importantly leads your consumers to transact).
2.Set up or spend some dollars looking at your Web Analytics data to ensure you are capturing your users, engaging them, and then leading them to transact. (You may still have some work to do to ensure that your website is strong before you start developing a Facebook group)
3.Get a solid Web distribution strategy in place for the year (with resources allocated to content development, SEO, search engine marketing tactics such as Pay Per Click or Google local, and online PR to generate buzz for your company and or your widget).
4.Ensure that your ecommerce tools are working.  Does your online booking system need an upgrade? Is your e-newsletter working effectively to drive business? It is great to get a whole whack of new traffic, but if they are leaving your shopping cart to early what’s the point?

Now that I have finished writing this post, I will update my Twitter page and my Facebook profile with a link to the post.  I should really also update my Linkedin profile…and then maybe take a nap, all of this social networking is exhausting and I haven’t even spoke to anyone in 2 hours!

[tags] twitter, social media marketing, SMM, web strategy, internet marketing tactics,online PR, online marketing[/tags]

I have been getting updates from Carolyn Coles, Social Media Community Manager for Lululemon Athletica, and I wanted to share with you some of her insights. I asked Carolyn about how she is measuring the results across the multiple social media channels she is using to build communities around the event (which include: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr), and which have proven to be the most successful.

Carolyn said the following about the campaign as a whole. “So far we’ve had a tremendous response from the video. Char Loro – a Culture Rep / Key Leader at our Eaton Center store created the video. We’ve also just created a photoset on flickr: www.bit.ly/thefalls.  Many more photos will be posted there throughout the sale. Flickr has been a really amazing community for us to participate in. It’s a fabulous space for us to tell stories. So far we’ve had over 100,000 views on our lululemon feed.”

Twitter was a great place for us to leak the event in the first place. We had guests guess where they thought the sale would take place and send us suggestions for where they’d like to see the next sale. It really gave us a lot of insight into where our followers were from and how we can surprise and delight them in the future. Over the course of a few hours on twitter we released the location of the event, a few tweets to people that I thought would be interested, and I leveraged the relationship we had with some great deal sites online.

Within the first week of us creating a minisite on our website we saw Facebook referrals to our site increase 1,093%! In addition to this FB event – we let fans of other lululemon related groups / pages know of the sale. And posted messages on the walls of lululemon store FB pages in the surrounding areas.

When I asked Carolyn specifically about how she measured the ROI of this campaign (which I know you are all dying to know!) she brought it back to the transaction place, the lulu Website of course!

Yep, we use Google Analytics. it’s an extremely powerful tool. We’ve also been using a tool called BrightKit to monitor the effectiveness of the links we post on Twitter. On Flickr we use the statistics that are a part of having a pro account. They are also extremely telling. Hurray to social media!

Note to all those who are planning a Social Media Marketing campaign.  This marketing channel, like every other does not manage itself.  Note that Carolyn Coles is a full-time Online Community manager, and she is a busy chick! Here it is for all of you who wanted a brilliant execution of Social Media Marketing! Thanks Carolyn and I will be sure to mobile upload pics from the sale tomorrow!

[tags]social media marketing, twitter marketing, facebook marketing, social media strategy, lululemon, flickr marketing, community marketing, online community manager, brightkit.com [/tags]

1.       Huge growth in social media, digital out-of-home, digital point of sale and mobile smart phones
2.       The “app-lification” of marketing and media with downloadable apps, music for mobile devices (iPhone being the trend setter) and social media websites – making people able to connect anywhere at anytime
3.       The start of the “Conversation Economy,” where brands need to join the conversations that consumers are having and play less of a prescriptive role. (I love it – the Conversation Economy – David I just might use that one!)
4.       Growth in 2009 in Location-based marketing (ads served up to mobile devices and digital signage through GPS technology)
 

I would agree with Mr. Feldt in saying that although everyone is focussed on the “R” word as of late, the digital marketing space will continue to grow in 2009.  With the ability to so accurately target, measure ROI immediately and engage consumers like never before, Marketing online will provide organizations who are ready to take the leap a huge advantage.