“Social Traffic” - Why this book topic:
“Social Traffic” - Event Marketing in a New Media Scape
Why this topic:
In 1958 Licklider saw universal networking as a potential unifying human revolution, which many years later resulted in the creation of the web. Till 2000, all we needed was a website to be considered ‘on the web’. The definition and usage of the internet has changed so drastically since then, that it’s imperative to think about it in terms of your “complete” web presence - which includes your profiles, followings, social networks, life streaming, blogs and much more. People, who aren’t part of this new social media landscape, are in essence, not really considered ‘online’ at all.
According to a research, as of today; it’s a fact that approximately 73% of online users read blogs. It’s a fact that 57% internet users are on social networking sites. It’s a fact that Facebook just recently hit their 100 million user landmark within months. It’s a fact that people are tuning in to Youtube more than mainstream TV with approximately 83% internet users having viewed online videos. Almost 40% of all the people on the internet subscribe to RSS feeds. On an average 16,500 tweets (twitter) are sent each hour. Most astoundingly, there is a massive shift in company brands when 36% of internet users claim to think more positively about companies with blogs. Should these stats matter to us as business owners, event managers or marketers? I just want to achieve one goal today - make you understand that being ‘present online’ and building a powerful business network isn’t as difficult as it seems. In fact, the principle ideology for online success in today’s world is much closer to your offline mind set than most exponents of online networking can see.
If I can convince any of you to take the leap, to take what you do naturally offline, online…then everything that I’ve done so far in my career would become worth it.
With its huge potential, Web 2.0 has opened up gateways for businesses. There are more than 400,000 entrepreneurs and developers on the Facebook platform - And this is just a SINGLE social networking site. Imagine if you tap into several, how big and profitable it can be for you. The key is to channel the intelligence and savvy of the collected group and make your space a user-friendly place for people to meet, connect and share. Online event marketing also has a huge potential now, more so than ever before, thanks to Web 2.0 techniques. People are no longer an audience who are “just a witness to the event taking place on stage” but are actually a part of planning and promoting it. Your audiences, customers or markets have the most influence in making your events or launches a huge success. Social media has taken things to the next level and the division between “you” and “them” has blurred and “we” has emerged. This book is about channelizing this force to your advantage.
Welcome to Social Traffic - Event anchored Marketing in the New Media Scape.
Book launches Wednesday November 5th. You Can Sign Up Here.
I hope you enjoy the book, as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Tribalism - Speaking the lingo
This is another excerpt from my book due out November 5th - “Social Traffic”
Always remember that the people you are marketing to are your online community. They are a community of people supporting your services, attending your events and communicating directly with you. If you want more people to contact you for services, manage their events or to buy your products, then it is important to build initial trust and credibility first.
Secondly, you need to be an active part of the community itself. Participate with the audience, ask them questions, discuss ideas, share thoughts, request feedback. This communication helps people in opening themselves up to you and become more inclined to use your services or attend your parties later on. Also, it is the best way to get a feel for audience expectations and early feedbacks of your events. Credibility comes from sharing insight, discussing thoughts and adding value to conversations. When people start to respect your opinion as a good one, they will become more inclined to becoming your customers.
The escalating online trends in social media, the increase in fancy new gadgets - all of these factors have paved ways for you to communicate with your market on more direct levels. This direct interaction brings you to downright human levels and potentially breaks all gaps between you and your customers. You can talk to them. You can listen to them. You can communicate with them. You can build loyalty. You can build relationships of trust. You can do so much, just by leveraging different tools to form a bridge between you and your customers.
Some people believe that if you want to be ‘accepted ‘ or ‘liked’ by a group of people online - you have to be like them. Shel Israel calls puts it this way: “Humans are tribal by nature. It is in our DNA. It has to do with why we are passionate about sports teams and rock bands. It has to do with why most people want to marry people of their own race or religion and it has to do with the unfortunate human tendency to mistrust or downright dislike people of apparently different tribes.” (Shel Israel http://redcouch.typepad.com)
From my perspective, however, I have seen how the boundary of the concept of tribes strips down and evolves into something much bigger and tolerant online. The subtle anonymity or behind-the-curtains-feel of being online has changed our criteria of tribalism. Instead of race or ethnicity, tribes are formed based on authority, thought leadership and recognition. For instance, experts of a certain niche group are more revered than newbies.
Understanding the dynamics and cultures of a network or group is vital for surviving in it, and the only way to show them that you are one of them is by speaking their lingo.
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“Social Traffic” - Have You Been Getting Any Lately?
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Social media and Ethics
Markets today are better informed, smarter and they demand quality services. You cant fool them into buying into substandard stuff. You shouldn’t. Your consumers should be longterm community members and should feel like an active part of your organization. The more they are kept in the loop, the better decisions they can make - they more they will trust you.
I’ve seen people malpractice in internet marketing, thinking that they’ll get away with it - which they don’t. The interesting thing about social media is that people don’t forget and they hardly ever forgive anyone if they feel like they have been cheated in any way, most of the communication is on record so is easy to remember and pass on to others. One bad move can spread far and beyond and soon enough everyone will want to stay away from you. Being true to yourself and your network is the only way to go here.
The best way to do that is to have products and services that are actually worth talking about and soon they’ll spread by themselves via WOM. The social networking effect, if you get traction is flabbergasting yet real - and can not be faked. It has to happen naturally, if your stuff really is good then you can rest assured that there will be a stir. If it is not, then bring it to par first.
Traditional monologue advertising has less than 30% effect on people. People want to have real conversations with real interaction even if its online, they want brands that have things to offer of real value and they want social proof that what ever they spend their money on represents value. Be present. Be on social networks. Be real. If you offer a product or service that offers true value then you should Blog often to communicate yourself to your audiences. AND most importantly, don’t dodge, lie or deceive your readers. People don’t get a second chance here. Have good intentions and your actions will follow suit.
Social marketing is a very delicate business in that you are facilitating people’s emotions in the process of getting your message out. You need to be careful about how your messages are perceived. You need to be careful about leaning into practices that some may seem to be bordering on unethical or misleading. If you get it right and your message represents great value and happiness then people will broadcast it for you without cost, if your message is a negative one it will broadcast just as far except it will be at a considerable cost.
Heres a great presentation on social media to watch:
Social networks - Have the hunted become the hunters
Why do some marketers still shy away from social networks?
Its funny how things can take such a flip turn in just a few years. I have seen how marketing concepts have transitioned along with the evolving internet. The greatest difference in the emergence of social media as a marketing medium is that 5-10 years ago marketers would be the ones with the lists. Marketing would be a one-way communication of messages from companies to consumers. They would work off a database of customers to find ways of penetrating them. TVCs, Radio Ads, Publications, Direct mail, Cold calling etc were all a core part of all marketing activities. The impact of the Ads was difficult to gauge.
Google search engines have turned the hunted into the hunters. Consumers now work off a list of merchants or providers and through a substantial supply of information to choose from. They decide who to listen to, trust and buy from. They are more empowered and in many ways less gullible. More access to information makes them wiser and better decision-makers.
This information gets to them via search engines and community based platforms. Search engines run algorithms to parse through information and show it to the consumers. On the other hand, community based platforms are enabled by elements of social interaction. Humans (not machines) filter content based on preferences and popularity. It is us who sort the information to protect our networks from poor choices.
Its the hunted who now have the power - the merchants must win over the prey if they want the prey to endorse whatever they are peddling & invite their social network to embrace it. To some naive marketers these facts represent a nightmare, which it is not. If you use social media effectively and not for spamming, a marketers cost of sales can drop considerably. Not only that, we now have the power to leverage mob-effects, community shifts, emotional linkages - all using simple social networking strategies.
If you are event marketers or promoters you can now directly interact with your audiences and get a direct feel for their thoughts and opinions. You can get early feedback. You can involve them in planning the different dynamics of the event. You can create groups and communities around your event to help build hype and excitement. You can let evangelists and fans promote your event for you. You can allow your prospective audiences to blog about your event. You can enable live twittering at the event. You can allow them to share photos of the after its over to build lasting memories and nostalgia.
Get creative.
Social media etiquittes for event planners
It seems that people tend to misuse social media and networking sites for their marketing campaigns leaving users irritated. Spam in emails is something I have learned to get used to (sort of), but Facebook spam and blog comments spam is always an annoyance.
It is important to be careful in your social media strategies and implementation because one wrong move can defame you in seconds in the online world. Although these things may seem obvious to most people, I will still share them with you so that you can run through your plans to make sure you don’t unintentionally push the wrong nerves. As event managers or marketers, your reputation and credibility are things that need safeguarding.
I consider these an understood underlying part of my preachings, but if we’re not on the same page about them then there is a chance you may misinterpret my social media strategies and harm your events or businesses. So, here goes:
If you are leveraging social media for marketing your events, please make sure of the following:
1- You send messages to only those people who are interested or have opted-in to hearing from you. No random catching strangers in the marketplace.
2- If you have found your demographics online (randomly), then try to build a relationship of trust with them before pushing marketing message down their throats. Make them your friends by helping them or providing them value. This is always a mutually beneficial relationship.
3- Even if you have built a relationship with prospects, make sure they are open to hearing about your event, instead of giving them attendance ultimatums. You don’t want to drive the traffic away but instead attract them.
4- To attract that traffic don’t fabricate things about your event that are not true. There is nothing worse than finding out that you have been deceived into buying tickets. deliver what you promise and promise what you can deliver.
So there, is out of my system now. We’ll move onto more serious topics tomorrow onwards.
Social Media - an online mindset shift
Its interesting to see how event managers with old-school traditional marketing knowledge are using social media in the wrong way. When it comes to social media, you have to have a complete mindset shift or else you’d end up wasting time and energy with little or no rewards.
People who don’t change their mindsets want to see immediate results, want to get immediate outreach (outreach doesn’t necessarily mean better branding), don’t have the right conversations with their potential customers (have to be two way), don’t let communities evolve on their own (by trying to control everything), are not open to criticism, don’t switch to online mediums completely (still rely on offline techniques more), can’t synergize different mediums for planning and marketing their events.
Of course, I do understand that it can be difficult to just switch a perspective that has been embedded in our systems for years. If you are having trouble adapting your thinking process around the latest and newest technologies, here are some things that may help:
1- Be in the know of whats going on. Subscribe to different authority blogs in your industry. Get Google alerts for updates on happenings that can effect your business. Keep yourself constantly up to date.
2- Learn from others. When other industry thought leaders share their experiences and ideas - be sure to learn from them. Often times, those people who close themselves up to what others are doing become increasingly averse to social media.
3- Keep a watch on new tools and spend time playing with them or analyzing them regularly. Follow the latest internet marketing trends (Brad Fallon’s www.freelinereport.com is good place to start) and keep trying them out off and on to see how your events and businesses can be improved by using them. If you don’t like a tool, you don’t have to use it - but at least give them a try. There are so many cool free online applications that can benefit you.
4- If you think you are still not the social media type - get tech friendly people on your team and give the space and leverage to get creative with social media marketing. This is a great way of bringing in new ideas into your business. If you think you are up for it, you can even hire experts to do your events marketing for you.
Whatever road you choose, try not to stay stuck with the old methods of marketing. Leverage the power of social media.
Why social media?
Social media is something which you just cannot ignore. Whatever industry you are working in, it is amazing how much influence social media can have on your business, you just need to know how to use it to your advantage.
Social media marketing basically defines how you can use online channels to market your products, get traffic, convert people into customers, get your conversation started, etc. So when you’re planning your marketing mix, it is important to understand the dynamics of different social media tools to find the right ones for your business. You can’t just put them all up and expect magic to happen. What works for a online clothing store may not work for a web services company and so on.
That is why we keep reminding you not to follow someone else’s best practices by the book, figure out what will work for your business or get a consultant to do that for you. If you are an event manager, figure out what tools to use for maximum impact: e.g. you may want to create an online page for an event and choose not to for another. Will a short-lived fame from getting highlighted on Techcrunch or Digg help you or will creating an authoritative blog about your industry? Are different internet marketing techniques like SEO and PPC going to work for your launch or event or are they just hyperboles? You need to know how to make these important decisions effectively, and for that you need to understand the impact of social media on launches, events and any other services.
The truth is that the world has changed. People, audiences, consumers, business are all looking for more value from everything that is offered to them. You see it all around you in the offline world, where even food joints are giving out upsize meals. Translate that to the online world and everything multiplies exponentially. Its easier, its more powerful, it has more of an outreach and most of it is available for free.
Well, the question that comes to mind is that if there are so many free ways of marketing online, why isn’t everyone doing a great job at it. One of the reason could be that the face of the online world is constantly evolving and you need to be at the foremost in order to know what’s going on. I guess that’s where posts like these come into place - we’ve worked, consulted, tried, tested, experienced, experimented and think that we have gained considerable knowledge that we can now share.
We will be sharing a whole series of step by step guidelines on how to market your events through multiple channels and how to use different online platforms to your advantage. The guidelines will be posted on a daily basis on this blog. Do check it out whenever you can.
Interact with customers - your best branding strategy
The escalating online trends in social media, the increase in fancy new gadgets - all of these factors have paved ways for you to communicate with your market on more direct levels. This direct interaction brings you to downright human level and potentially breaks all gaps between you and your customers. You can talk to them. You can listen to them. You can communicate with them. You can build loyalty. You can build relationships of trust. You can do so much, just by leveraging different tools to form a bridge between you and your customers.
As IAB CEO Randall says, “This achievement is a testament to the continued vitality of interactive. Explosive innovation in the industry is providing marketers with new and unique ways to reach consumers. It’s a very exciting time.”
While event marketing may seem to be about meticulous planning, it also involves quite a bit of right-brain activity. Balance in creativity and structure is important in this domain and thats why we are starting a whole blog series just to talk about this. You can follow these step by step Event Launch Guidelines and share any thoughts or experiences that you think can add to its content.
Event Planning - how to leverage social media to build hype
Using social media channels to market events is a great strategy for getting attention and building excitement around an event. It is a low-cost way to promote your events to a larger audience and build hype and fans. I tried some pre-launch marketing steps that helped me generate a lot of buzz around a live coffee talk-show at the New Port beach a while ago. I am sharing the steps with you:
Step 1: the social networking pages
It is important to understand and build the brand of your event first. What makes it different and unique? Why should people care to attend? After you have a fair idea about your brand, the first step is to create your event pages using social networking sites, like facebook, myspace, squidoo etc. A great example of this is how Tech Crunch markets their annual conferences on independent specially designed pages for the event. These pages go through a cycle of pre-launch information to live updates during launch to post-launch winner lineups. It’s a place where you can participate in the discussions, see who else is coming, review the startups that are going to pitch, and just get a feel for the buzzing activities around you.
The great thing about social media is that it is offers the flexibility to design the pages in community specific ways. The pages that you build for a official conference can be very different from the ones you make for a club party.
Step 2: building traffic
You can get traffic to your social pages directly or through referrals and links. The more the links your webpage gets, the better the search engine rankings. The better the search engine rankings, the more likely your potential customers or audiences will be able to find you. The traffic coming in from these secondary sources should not be undermined, since it brings in people who are more likely to be inclined towards being interested in what you are offering. Social media traffic can easily be managed through strategic marketing methods.
Step 3: communicating with your audiences
The more you can communicate with your audiences on a one-on-one level, the better your event will be. You will be able to gauge the audience’s expectations from the event, so that you can design and plan the event accordingly. A friend of mine was organizing a concert in Orange County once and realized later that the most active people in the county preferred a different taste in music. The great thing about the internet is that you can quickly and easily find this kind of information by interacting with prospective audiences directly.
Step 4: building hype and excitement
Although this seems like a simple step in the process, it isn’t. Webpages on social networking sites are only successful if they can perpetuate and grow. This can only happen if you have managed to build a large group of supporters or like-minded folks to spread the word about your event. Your brand story plays an important role here. If the story is exciting, “camp on the big bear lake”, “first ever fusion dance party”, “scary Halloween party close to the night safari”, “top ten jazz singers night”; the supporters will more likely spread it. If they can understand and build on your events brand story, they will spread it like it’s their own. That’s just the way it works. So, build hype, get people talking and launch right on the peak of their excitement. Bam.
Planning social marketing is more of a strategic thing, rather than just following best practices that worked for others. While these steps helped me manage a small event well, they may or may not work for all of your events, as is. However the underlying principles of interacting with your audience are things that I would strongly advocate, regardless of what specific steps you take to do so.
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