Corporate social media integration is not expensive or challenging!

August 29, 2010

What is needed for corporate social media integration?

Social Media is the Future for Corporations and SMBsHere are my thoughts on social media and corporations.

Know your Goals:

- What are your goals? Sales?

- How realistic are your goals?

Know your audience:

- Customers?

- Comrades?

- Don’t be phony.

- Transparency rocks!

- If you social media department doesn’t have a clue “How to win friends and influence people,” you won’t succeed at social. You can’t fake the funk!

Metrics/Reports:

- You can’t manage what you can’t measure.

- Don’t worry about the numbers. If you spend two years in social media, and have not monetized the effort, then you can re-evaluate the need for social media.

Reputation Management is in the Social Media Department!

- Don’t forget to follow-up online with information on how you resolved things offline. Just because you repaired a problem.

- Keep negative comments off the first page of Google (and other search engines) with SEO.

PR Assault……Should have been done yesterday!

- It doesn’t have to be perfected within before you begin!

- It doesn’t take more expense than time and guidance from an expert

PreEmptive Strikes are great social media tactics:

- Social media is not just reputation or crisis management and marketing sales communications

- Create non company accounts and find your promoters or reputation “protectors,” those that defend your brand.

Make Sure Your CEO is 100% on Board:

- Don’t trust social media to interns. That should make your CEO comfortable.

- Get someone who has the trust of the CEO or board of directors to be a social media department head.

- If you have to have a meeting before responding online at every social interaction, you might want to reconsider your policy.

- Employees respond stupidly in front of customers, don’t freak out if they respond or say something stupid online.  It will happen.
Who Owns Social Media?

- Trusted employees, policy department, fast-paced communications departments that has speed and agility, marketing comunications or public relations.  Ability to quickly communicate to other departments.

- Social media interaction can not be outsourced.

- Email is social media. Schedule your emails. Don’t miss deadlines. Be granular about it.

Where Does Social Media Marketing Take Place?

- Twitter

- Email subscription lists

- Facebook

- YouTube

- Newsletters

- Public Relations

- Press Releases

- Websites

- Events Offline

*Just Remember: Brands don’t communicate with people, people do. Social media is about interacting, your company’s brand with the community!

For additional expert advice and tips on social media integration just click this link.

Posted from WordPress for Android while at OpenCa.mp Dallas 2010, see #ocdfw on Twitter.

3 Comments | Advertising & Marketing, Dallas Search Engine Marketing, Google Advertising Tips & Secrets, Ideas | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Mike Stewart

Local Search and SEO Expert Says “Places” is the New “Yellow Pages” of Tomorrow.

August 26, 2010

Who is going to win? Facebook Places or Google Places? Out of all the millions of websites on the internet, Facebook is soon to be the #2 site, outpacing Yahoo for the prized spot behind Google. Facebook just recently announced a new feature, one we all knew was coming, called Facebook Places, something Facebook hopes can take a social media shot at Google’s Places,  (aka: maps, formerly called Local Business Listings. Not to be confused with Google Earth.)  Facebook has already planned to compete with Wikipedia on the meaning of words and information on branded terms.

A few years ago local directories owned most of the local search share, mostly do to strong SEO and traffic from traditional print users shifting to digital and remaining loyal to the telephone companies who sent phone books to their homes. Then Google and other search engines started…  Read More about Facebook vs Google from Dallas Google Guru Mike Stewart

1 Comment | Advertising & Marketing, Dallas Search Engine Marketing, Google Advertising Tips & Secrets, YellowCrooks.com Information | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Mike Stewart

Why do crony executives hide behind “company policies”…

August 24, 2010

Were You Fired From SuperMedia Due To Executive or CEO Fraud?It is easy. Our company policy requires you to disclose wrongdoings. 

Take a look at Sea World. They knew the whale was more trouble than it was worth. A $75,000 suit later after discovering that executives tried to hide the fact that they knew about the potential troubles. 

All they do is blame it on the employees for not “filing a complaint” or grievance. Reminds me of the corporate culture I witnessed while working in “corporate America.” Executives know what happens. They just blame it on subordinates for not filing a complaint or reporting to HR. Yet I personally witnessed employees being pushed out, pressured, and terminated for “blowing the whistle” on wrongdoings. 

Easy for the executives. Let the minions fall on the sword. It is so easy to avoid it as the boss. Who is going to fire the boss? His team of circle jerks? 

Makes me sick and glad to be away from corporate politics. 

Seriously. I left High School and 2 months later joined Verizon Information Services. 9 years + later, I can attest that the only protections employees have is other employees. Yet I still have negative opinions about unions. I was one of the non union fellas who witnessed wage decreases and modest merit increases while unions negotiated cadillac contracts, pensions, and benefits packages. 

Damned if you do. Damned if you don’t. 

Guess the only option is to stop overpaying crony executives for working less hours than regular employees and to limit the ability for a single hiring manager to term an employee? But putting wrenches and restrictions on the workforce limits a companies ability to respond to the marketplace. 

So what is the solution? 

Culture. It begins at the top and finishes at how you train clients to agree, promote, and accept your ethics, mission, and positive working environment. Clients are trained to cheat by shady unethical consultants. Don’t allow executives to ignore wrongdoings. Don’t allow co-workers to do the same. 

Your company may not have great sales results, dividends to investors, or huge executive bonuses, but you can always take pride in your corporate culture. Atleast you won’t be ranked on JobVent as on of the worst places to work. 

Btw, notice how companies avoid the “blogosphere” by just posting press releases vs allowing comments? Another way to keep the community silent and from voicing concerns. I love exposing the tricks from so-called corporate reputation management professionals. 

Cheers, 

Mike 

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1 Comment | Advertising & Marketing, Complaints & Scams, Disgruntled Former Employee Rants, Ideas, Politics & Government, Rhetorical Questions, Uncategorized, YellowCrooks.com Information | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Mike Stewart

Concierge….. potential future for publishers.

August 24, 2010

Yellow Page Concierge Services…..

It is not really lead generation, but more of an opportunity for publishers to become a subscription based business.

Service Magic has cost per lead for service companies locked and loaded. Yext is up and coming. Transparency is the future. Why? Because the internet is the “bathroom wall of America.”

Who will be the first publisher to attempt to incorporate pricing (such as a hotel concierge who provides the best deals to VIP clients for local sporting events, operas, and concerts) and providing the best local products and services. Not those backed by some long micro print guarantee that has nothing but a “these are the guys who purchased our ads” seal of approval. Consumers want to subscribe to the best deals. The best providers. And the best resources of information. The best directories offer traffic to advertisers. How do you get traffic? Well, you can buy it (not so smart) or earn it. Earning it requires unique value propositions and key differentiators.

What more can a yellow pages publisher do than stop offering up the biggest ad spenders, but those smbs most capable of servicing the true client of the yellow pages company, the CONSUMER.

Doesn’t sound cheap. Probably requires going back to the “compensation committee” and lowering the CEO’s salary and bonuses. But hey, when your stock is tanking and you already have an exit strategy in place, why would you want to rock the boat?

Leave a Comment » | Advertising & Marketing, Complaints & Scams, Dallas - Fort Worth print Yellow Pages, Disgruntled Former Employee Rants, Ideas, Local Print Yellow Page Company Information, Rhetorical Questions, YellowCrooks.com Information | Permalink
Posted by Mike Stewart

The Fate of Yellow Page Company Business Models…

August 23, 2010

What an interesting topic? Almost as interesting as discussing the weather on June 3rd, 1963.

Well, I had an interesting call with Yext folks once again. Paying up to $25.00 per call for quality leads is not asking for too much, unless you can get them for less by a qualified local search engine marketing firm. A client has a Yext account. Why you ask? Because sometimes SEO agencies don’t or are not capbable of serving “bold listing” and “HS ad” type budgets. This is why YEXT is such a good offer. They gamble on the search marketer skills in-house by providing result within a margin and aggregate traffic amongst all the different listing sites, such as SuperPages.com, Yp.com, CitySearch, AllTheWeb, Local.com, etc.  Most small search marketing agencies focus on Google, Yahoo, Ask.com, and Bing.  Sometimes, especially in rural markets, the value of local directories with older and less experienced computer users, the directory sites can provide a greater value. Competitive markets that have populations over 200k drive up cost by aggressive advertisers and amount of advertising competiton as well as standard bid minimums and less volume to justify monthly media service fees.

So…. what is the fate? Better focus on driving quality traffic to you directory. I think print will still be fragmented with competition and .com will be all about customer traffic, managing traffic, and cost per aquisition or lead.

Your thoughts?

That is why going from 20 million UVs (unique visitors) to 8 million is such a big deal!

If you think a sales model is the future of the internet you are DUMB or a liar.  Traffic driving lead aggregators, search engines, local search companies will saturate the local smb market. The company that wins adapts a service oriented holistic approach.

Bet!

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Leave a Comment » | Advertising & Marketing, Dallas - Fort Worth print Yellow Pages, Local Print Yellow Page Company Information, Rhetorical Questions, Uncategorized, YellowCrooks.com Information | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Mike Stewart

Phonebook’s are not dead…… seriously!

August 22, 2010

“Just because your business is relevant today, does not mean it will be relevant tommorow!”

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Have you noticed how the terminology of the word “phonebook” has shifted from discussions of 5lb paperweights to contact lists on mobile devices. I just did a search on Twitter for “phonebook” and noticed that the repeated complaints about getting yellowpages directories delivered unsolicited to ones domicile with the “#phonebook” hashtag/keyword have been trending down. It is not like folks simply stopped complaining about “phonebooks” and unwanted yellowpages directory spam, I am just saying that the overall awareness, meaning, and viability of printed directories is dead. Although the word “phonebook” may become a very popular word once again in the near future!

The resurection of the printed book is not likely going to happen, but mobile devices will keep the idea of a “phonebook” on the forefront of our daily activities. When is the last time you used the white pages? Most folks are no longer programming cerebral sponges (brains) to remember phone numbers. We are becomming increasingly relient on our “phonebook” to provide us numbers and contact information.

Recently Yahoo stated that mobile search will account for 50% of all searches. I predicted mobile being 40% in less than two years just a few months ago on this blog. Now that smart phone technology is advancing to new leaps with great mobile browsers like Google’s Android browser, which has just recently officially taken the #1 spot from the iPhone’s Apple Safari Mobile Browser, and smart phones are no longer priced for affordability by the wealthy, I have a hunch that this migration to mobile will inundate the “local product or service” market quickly.

This all helps explain why SuperMedia stock, publisher of the SuperYellowPages “phonebooks,” is at an all-time low of around $12 per share.  I also recall that Oppenheimer finally downgraded the stock from outperform to perform (the only other measurement is underperform) and the analyst who rated the company is likely on some sort of “shitlist.”  Oppenheimer is no longer covering SuperMedia due to the size, or lacktherof, of SPMD’s stock marketcap.

Link: http://www.learningmarkets.com/News-Feed/2010081939950/supermedia-inc-endures-analyst-downgrade-spmd-v-kong.html

The Paulson Hedgefund, who owns approx. 16.9% of SuperMedia stock recently sent a “not-so-secret” message to investors by selling a few small shares of the company. Last I heard this is a known trick on the street to encourage shortselling of a stock.

It is interesting to see that while SuperMedia’s pending doom is approaching, the “phonebook” is still alive and well. Phonebook’s will outlive the yellowpages phonebook. Trust me!

Meanwhile, I still feel 110% confident that I have a cure for wannabe “integrated media companies” who want to transition from a non transparent, unfocused, hard sell, high margin, dying business model to a transparent collaborative service oriented enterprise2.0 business model. Stay tuned.

Join me at PubCon Vegas for details! See ya there folks!

Don’t forget to wear your red on Thursday folks! SuperSleuth out!

Posted from WordPress for Android

1 Comment | Advertising & Marketing, Complaints & Scams, Dallas - Fort Worth print Yellow Pages, Disgruntled Former Employee Rants, Ideas, Local Print Yellow Page Company Information, Rhetorical Questions, Uncategorized, YellowCrooks.com Information | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Mike Stewart

Yext offers cool Reputation Management Platform to EVERYONE, SuperMedia spends big bucks on announcement…

August 10, 2010

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Ummmm, I called YEXT weeks ago. Never thought SuperMedia’s PR team would be so desperate for news to claim, a social media product announcement!…. Oh wait, it is a FREE product to all. Thanks Yext! How about giving SuperMedia some sort of product exclusivity?

Well, now you clients have a reason to be “in good standing” with a company that fails to stay in good standing with investors and clients!

BTW, Yext offers pay per call for as much as $25 per call, think of it….. better performing campaigns (more responsive) have a lower cost per call (and click for that matter.)

I can’t wait to see how SuperMedia’s unholistic product centric focus will lead to natural mismanagement and sales continuing skill of over promising and under delivering….. meanwhile you get your butt kicked by a holistic internet marketing expert who puts a client before profit. Once you create insatiable value, you don’t lose clients……

Keep bundling the print to get folks to buy overpriced .com products that have stupid longterm contracts for “internet” advertising. Internet marketing is a service…. not a product Mr. DeKlein. But VC’s and building supply folks don’t really get how ad agencies work!

I am digging the YellowBook360 commercials and I hear ReachLocal is about to rollout “ReachCast,” a content based SEM service for free. It is a step up from Yext I hear.

Even better…… Let’s spin another companies FREE product to create a glimmer of hope. What else does “SkunkWorks” really have to offer? Are you kidding me. ROTFLMAO. How about interacting with the community honestly? How about answering the price/value angle? How about innovation? That is what happens when your company Facebook and Twitter page has less followers than I do, and those same pages even consist of 90% employee based “like”s. You saturation distribution (aka unwanted solicitation) guys don’t realize that subscription is the “New Coke”! Yeah I said it…. Coke! Shoot me…. Coke Coke Coke! Doesn’t Dave-O like that stuff? Get hopped up on Coke and then what happens?

3 Comments | Advertising & Marketing | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Mike Stewart

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