“The nice thing about Web Analytics is that the data doesn’t lie.”

Have you ever heard someone say that? Have you ever thought that yourself? Well, that’s not entirely true. Sure the data itself is objective, but it’s the subjectivity of the viewer that dictates how ‘truthful’ Web Analytics really is.

You have a choice. You can:

Allow Web Analytics to dictate your actions; or,
Allow your actions to dictate how you use Web Analytics.

What do I mean?

Continue reading "Talk, Analytics. Talk!"

I just put down Advertising Age’s issue on the Digital A-List. If this issue is any barometer of how digital marketing is evolving, the lines between technology, entertainment and business goals are continuing to rapidly blur. Profiling the year’s best interactive creative work and the people who make it happen, it is this convergence that is defining the digital future:

“Our belief is that marketing and product have converged. The consumer doesn’t separate the marketing experience from the product experience.”

Rather than merely relying on clever creative work, brands are blending form and function to create branded utilities that effectively utilize social media to create community and brand loyalty. As one agency executive said, “The new ‘viral’ is going to be a business solution for clients.”

This whole new approach means that brands and agencies need to begin developing a marketing-as-service strategy:

In other words, marketers can build websites that do cool, useful stuff...examples include Johnson & Johnson and its BabyCenter, a deep repository of information about raising a newborn that’s a clear competitor to Bonnier or Meredith, the publishers of Parenting and Parents magazines respectively. Nike Plus, whose sharp interface connects runners all over the world, is a real threat to any traditional media owners who wants to engage with that running population.

It’s time for marketing agencies and the companies they represent to think different. Perhaps something a bit more radical like Jakob Nielsen’s perspective:

“The basic point about the web is that it is not an advertising medium. The web is not a selling medium; it is a buying medium. It is user-controlled, so the user controls, the user experiences.”

This represents a powerful shift for brands and agencies. Those that tackle this change with creativity and a marketing-as-service strategy that engages their audiences through useful and functional online experiences will be the ones that define success in this convergence of product and marketing.

Here’s a great quote from a recent Seth Godin blog post:

Persistence isn’t using the same tactics over and over. That’s just annoying.

Persistence is having the same goal over and over.

I love this idea.

While this is applicable to marketing in general; I think this fits especially well with social media marketing. Leveraging a relationship between your analytics data and your social media will enable you to quickly create new tactics while maintaining your original goal.

This morning’s news of Bear Stearns’ firesale to JPMorgan Chase brought on renewed fears of an economic recession. Regardless of whether we’ve hit a full-blown recession or not, marketing budgets tighten when the economy sputters. And what dollars are spent, need to be more on target than ever before. However, a recent Forrester Research report announced that social media efforts will survive tightened budgets more than traditional media spending. 

For the savvy social media marketer, the recession is an opportunity to showcase the real value of social media instead of traditional ad spending. Social media provides a direct relationship between the brand and consumer by leveraging more affordable and measurable online tools that move the consumer from a position of being blasted by generic one-way advertising, to “motivating consideration,” a process that is perfectly suited for social media applications like blogs and social networks.

David Armano of Critical Mass, posted this presentation about the 10 Ways Digital Can Help You Thrive in a Recession:

And when the economy finally emerges from this downturn, hopefully social media will have undergone the maturation it needs by eliminating the hype and fads in favor of strengthening the tools and strategies that show results. 

I’m currently enjoying a book entitled Now is Gone by Geoff Livingston. In this book, Livingston articulately brings to life much of what has been in my head as of late--and something I’ve been talking about with my colleagues as well.

Particularly: I’ve been thinking that social media marketing is the future of marketing--or as I called it in the title: relational marketing. I know I could get in some hot water for such a dogmatic claim; but hear me out.

By “Social media” I mean more than simply the tools of social media such as blogs, Facebook, Twitter etc. Rather, I am referring to something similar to Livingston’s definition:

“Social media...is the democratization and socialization of information as well as the tools to facilitate online conversations. To put it another way, it is the shift from one-way to two-way conversations.”

Marketing has long been seen as information distribution to your target audiences. We gather info, we (gently) shove it down the customer’s throat, and then we ask them to say thank you and hope they want seconds. I understand that’s a bit hyperbolic; but it does have some truth in it. For better or worse (I happen to think for better), that way of marketing is quickly dying. Livingston speaks to this by distinguishing “audiences” from “communities.” It may sound like he’s splitting hairs; but it actually constitutes an entire paradigm shift.

Picture the last movie you saw in the theater (hopefully it wasn’t Vantage Point). As part of the audience, what did you do? You watched and listened; you didn’t interact--and hopefully you didn’t talk. Your opinion had no bearing on the movie’s content as the movie was already edited and produced. Accordingly, you’re only job was to take it all in and perhaps afterwards give it two thumbs up or down.

What do communities do? They engage in dialogue. People in community shape one another. Their opinions and ideas influence those of the others around them.

To return to the movie analogy; as an audience member you have no say over the finished product. However, as part of the community who made the movie, you had complete say. You influenced, shaped and created the movie (and hopefully, it wasn’t Vantage Point).

Marketers no longer have the option of treating people like audiences because people no longer have to sit around and respectfully listen to their message. People have choices. With the democratization and socialization of information, why would I accept a final product that doesn’t work for me when I can go elsewhere and help build one? Why would I continue to watch TV commercials when I have TiVo? Why would I stay on your web site if I don’t like it? Why would I buy your product when I know there are 10 other better options for less money? Why would I listen to a canned message when I can speak directly with the creator?

As Livingston points out, marketers no longer have the option of not engaging in community dialogue. Dialogue is happening whether we like it or not. We can either close our eyes hope they’re saying good things about our products & company; or we can help shape the conversation through our participation--and in turn be shaped ourselves.