SiteLogic

Becoming a Data-Based Business: The Medium is the Message

Matt Bailey — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 15:56:45 +0000

Social Media Messaging

What is Your Message?

The primary foundation of any social-media participation is to first evaluate your business and your message. Your message is of significant importance. It communicates who you or your business is and the value that you bring to the marketplace. Your message is the hook that brings people to your website, makes them curious to know more, and persuades them to take action. The development of your message is the first step to developing your social-media campaign. Your message is what makes you unique, and it communicates the benefit you provide. The message does not change.

The Medium is the Message

Marshall McLuhan was a visionary in the technology space. Just about any student in media has heard his famous phrase, “the medium is the message,” which was originally applied to the three big mediums, radio, TV, and print. Today, we have innumerable mediums. More than ever, marketers need to understand the implications of how messages are received.

“The medium is the message” is the observation that the same message will be interpreted in different ways depending upon the medium through which people receive the message. One of the earliest, most famous examples of this was in the early days of television in the presidential debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. Those who watched the debate on television overwhelmingly thought that Kennedy won the debate, because Nixon appeared tired and worn. Kennedy was young, energetic, and played well to the television audience. To those who listened to the debate on radio, Nixon was overwhelmingly perceived as the winner, because he was well reasoned, factual, and engaging.

Two groups of people received the same content but through two very different mediums. One was auditory driven, the other visually driven, and both mediums inherently affected the judgment of the audience, depending upon how they received the information of the debate.

A particular message, with specific intent and careful messaging, can be properly interpreted or casually misinterpreted simply based on the medium through which it is transmitted. In terms of social media, a message that works well in one medium may not be translating well or be received well in another medium.

Target a Your Ideal Medium

Once you have your message, the next step is to determine the medium that best fits your message and your resources. The vast majority of companies that have become famous for their social-media savvy focused on a primary medium when getting started, rather than all available mediums. By focusing on a single medium that best communicates your message and then using the rest of the social-media world to support that message and medium, you can contain your marketing to a focused, supported, and directed approach. The type of business you are determines the best medium for you.

The examples of those businesses that have created amazing results in social media are well known and recounted as hero stories in many marketing venues. These are the examples that marketers see and hear and then strive to repeat when they enter the world of social media. Keep in mind, though, that for each success story there are thousands of failed attempts that are not publicized or published as warnings. Only the lucky few who have figured out the magical social-media formula are the ones canonized for their originality.

Your Ideal Medium Effectively Communicates Your Message

Each social medium carries with it an intrinsic depth of interpretation. Audiences apply different filters and interpretations based on the type of media and the types of messages that are broadcast using that media. Simply put, what works on YouTube doesn’t always work on Twitter. What works on your blog may not work on Facebook. For your business, think of your message and your audience and the important aspects of how you can present your business and how your customers will be part of the community. Is your business best at presenting a visual or an auditory message? Does your business rely on an immediate news cycle and dispersing information to as many people as quickly as possible? Then Twitter would be an ideal choice, because blogging may be too slow.

Video-sharing sites such as YouTube tend to be a “see-to-believe” medium for businesses that have a very visual product. Product demonstrations, stunts, and comedy work very well in this medium. Videos that show processes, such as manufacturing, how-to, and other types of instructional and educational videos are also effective.

In terms of networking/microblogging–type social media, consider that on Facebook, the pace of communication is slower compared to Twitter, which is an immediate or real-time conversation. Users of Facebook spend long amounts of time updating their profiles and catching up on their friend’s news – a much more social activity rather than a news or commerce destination, as some advertisers have realized.

Know Thyself – The Start of an Successful Social Media Campaign

The companies that are successful with their online marketing and social media are the ones that understand themselves the best. As Socrates said, to “Know thyself” is the beginning of knowledge. Knowing your business, your resources, your message will be the beginning of a successful campaign. Logically, the best media to use will be the one that logically fits your business and your resources. Rather than trying to fit your business to all social media, find the media that best fits you and your strategy. Then do it right, invest in it and make it successful.

I love it when others get “the message” according to the medium: Fast Company: Without The Right Message, Twitter Is No Better For Your Brand Than A Fax Machine

Becoming a Data-Based Business: Making Your Own Trends

Matt Bailey — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 16:48:10 +0000

Using Data to Make Better Decisions

Marketing Woes

A couple of news stories hit the wire that really captured my attention this week. Mostly in the social Media Marketing arena, the first article was about how retailers are closing their FaceBook stores. Gamestop, JCPenney, Gap and others were the first to explore retail on Facebook.

Only a year ago analysts and Social Media experts were excited about the potential of F-Commerce (FaceBookCommerce). “There was a lot of anticipation that Facebook would turn into a new destination, a store, a place where people would shop,” noted Sucharita Mulpuru, an analyst at Forrester Research.

Another Social Media Channel

Another article that hit the wire about the same day as this was a story about how businesses are trying to capitalize on Pinterest, the newest Social Media hit. Here is the quote from the article that got me questioning the assumptions that are being made about this industry, “Just as many businesses have finally figured out how to use Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and even Google Plus, here comes yet another social media obligation that’s too popular to ignore.”

So, “many” business have figured it all out, have they? This may be the view from the media perspective; That businesses are driving visitors to their sites and capitalizing that into profitability – they must be, right?

Do you have it all figured out?

The assumption that businesses are figuring this out is laughable. From speaking at over 40 events last year, to thousands of attendees, I can personally attest that businesses are frustrated with social media, unsure of how to approach it, and no one knows how to measure it. It is a curve ball thrown to a traditional business model that has no room for all of this social interaction. This is the first generation of businesses that has had to add an entire component to running a business, beyond just the day-to-day responsibilities of business operations. Developing an online presence, changing to digital marketing, and now attempting to integrate a social media understanding – all the while being told by the media that other businesses are doing just fine and working it out successfully.

What provides your best value for your dollar?

Once in a while, I have the opportunity to meet with a company that is taking the time to develop a measurement-based understanding of their business, and develop their marketing based on their ROI. These businesses do not seem flustered by social media, and that is because they understand the value and where it comes from. You see, a data-based business measures success and knows which channels provide the best success for their marketing dollar. While experimentation with other channels, such as Pinterest is encouraged, it is only performed with a specific purpose and measurement goal.

These businesses know where their core marketing success is gained. These businesses understand and know where to invest their marketing dollar, because it provides the greatest return compared to other channels. These are the businesses that take their time in exploring new tactics, and use new media as a complimentary feature, rather than expecting great rewards that will change the business. It’s a form of maturity. When you know what works, and why it works, you don’t chase the “new.” Rather, you sit back, evaluate it, see if it fits your business, your message, and your resources. If it doesn’t, don’t do it.

Now, I’m NOT saying that Pinterest can’t be used – it can, IF your business model can leverage it. It’s the same with Twitter; I see publishers making great use of Twitter. I don’t see much success from non-tech B2B companies – it’s a medium that just doesn’t fit everybody. Knowing what fits is the first step to making your own marketing trend. The path of Social Media is littered with hundreds of cast-offs that were on their way to becoming the next best thing (MySpace, Friendster, Orkut, Second Life, Bebo, Jaiku, PLaxo, and the list goes on…)

Businesses that are successful in social media have made social media work for them; Rather than attempting to do everything, all at once, not knowing what to expect.

The Original Social Media

The last article I recommended to my friends was explored the groundbreaking marketing technique of seeing your clients face-to-face. Or, as a friend of mine explained, “the original social media.” Imagine that. In a world of articles about the benefits of social media, and the whirlwind of advice on how to get the most our of Twitter, FaceBook, Pinterest, etc – there is an article highlighting the value of meeting people face-to-face.

Talk about engagement…

Becoming a Data-Based Business: Knowing What to Do, Why and When.

Matt Bailey — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 20:07:47 +0000

Finding the “It” Factor

One of the more interesting things about running an online marketing agency is trying to find common factors among those employees and associates that are able to excel and understand the online marketing world. Trying to find that intangible “it” so that when the time comes to hire and expand, we can get the right people.

You see, it’s more than being able to perform a task – it is constant evaluation, investigation and testing hypothesis. It’s an analytical mind with a bit of artistic flair. Finding people that can not only “get it”, but then operate as a consultant and have face-to-face charisma with a client is the brass ring of hiring.

Marketing is Performing based on Data

When I surveyed my associates in order to find common experiences, factors or talents, I was astonished at what I found. The overwhelming majority of employees and associates had experience in performance music. Not just learning and instrument, but being part of a larger band or orchestra and performing in front of people. Even more, many are in bands where there they have to take keys from a leader or each other. Essentially, what I realized is that being a performance musician is an extreme multi-tasking exercise.

As I analyzed the behavior even more I found that it is not just multi-tasking, but an ability to digest multiple streams of information, react accordingly, and constantly measure your own performance, pitch, rhythm and mood so that it matches the rest of the performers in order to produce a singular sound.

This matched up with another marketing friend of mine, Brian Mathers from Scotland, who spent over 20 years serving on submarines in the Royal Navy. I am fascinated with Brian’s stories about submarine life, as he had to be able to know where he was, where the ocean terrain was, where other ships were and how fast they were going – all without a window. He relied on gauges, dials, readouts and sounds – all at the same time, and had to be ready to react the right way, with the right data, at the right time.

What, Where, When and Why

In the same way, businesses are now subject to massive amounts of data. IN addition to the data are the increasing challenges of online marketing which require attention to be split among various tasks: content development, content schedules, blogging, Tweeting, FaceBook, Google+, keyword research, SEO, PPC, email, analytics, A/B testing, press releases, code and development, link building, conversion optimization

-all while attempting to run a profitable business…

Multi-Tasking distracts, Analysts perform

This is where all of that earlier thought dawns on me. The successful businesses that I have seen all have something in common. They have people in places that are able to process all of the data from these dozens of tasks and the information produced by each one of them, and they are able to know what to do, why and when, and know what to expect in results. Not multi-tasking, but performing.

Caveman Analytics

Matt Bailey — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 19:02:12 +0000

I couldn’t believe it when i saw it, but here it was.

A national retailer sent me the analytics reports that their SEO company was giving them.

In exchange for paying this SEO company thousands of dollars per month for SEO and analytics, this retailer was getting nothing more than screenshots of Google Analytics; screenshots that showed Unique Visitors, Page Views, Time on Site and Top Content.

In 2011, I never thought I would still be seeing this, but I can’t believe how prevalent it is, and how much customers accept this artificial substitute for real business-based analysis. On top of that, to simply deliver screen captures and deliver no analysis of what the numbers mean is simply unacceptable.

Business owners want accountability and ROI for the money they spend. Search Marketing companies that do no more than generate “cut-and-paste” analytics reports do themselves and the industry a disservice by calling this “analytics.”

Where is the business case?
Where is the ROI?

When did these standards stop being the measurement of success?

Any business can improve the quality of their reports in a matter of minutes.
If the report they receive from their agency or their analysts does not contain clear action-based analysis that shows how to make more money – then stop accepting it.

A clear report should show (at a mimimum):

Where did the revenue come from?
What channels create the most revenue?
What search terms create the most revenue?
What actions should be taken as a result?

Beyond just these simple business-based questions are more in-depth questions that could be asked that would clarify an online business strategy;

What is the most profitable product/content/campaign?
What creates the best lifetime value?

Do you notice what isn’t in these questions? Unique visitors. Time on site. Visitors from other countries, etc. Those are all numbers that mean nothing without context. Simplify your strategy and grow your business by getting analytics reports that focus on revenue and value – not visitors.

It’s time to evolve.

If you would like more information on adding context to those numbers and how to develop better analytics, explore these articles:
Your Ranking Reports Are Wrong
No Goals, no analytics!
Analytics: Fun and Easy! Part 1

FaceBook Marketing for Businesses: Would your lawyer agree to this?

Matt Bailey — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 19:22:00 +0000

Who owns your social media marketing content?

I had a great question posed to me at a seminar a few weeks ago. The question concerned the ultimate ownership of content, especially when using social media.

I knew that FaceBook takes ownership of your content, but I was not sure how the Terms of Service actually read. So I went there to see FaceBook’s legal policy on ownership of Intellectual Property content. And Wow! Was I in for a surprise.

FaceBook’s Terms of Service:

You own all of the content and information you post on Facebook, and you can control how it is shared through your privacy and application settings. In addition:
1. For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos (IP content), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook (IP License). This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it.
4. When you publish content or information using the Public setting, it means that you are allowing everyone, including people off of Facebook, to access and use that information, and to associate it with you (i.e., your name and profile picture).

I thought this was entirely out-of bounds and overreaching in terms of assuming ownership of anything anyone publishes. Then I went and checked Google’s policy, in case Google+ as an option for business marketing:

Google’s Terms of Service:

11. Content license from you

11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. This license is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the Services and may be revoked for certain Services as defined in the Additional Terms of those Services.

11.2 You agree that this license includes a right for Google to make such Content available to other companies, organizations or individuals with whom Google has relationships for the provision of syndicated services, and to use such Content in connection with the provision of those services.

11.3 You understand that Google, in performing the required technical steps to provide the Services to our users, may (a) transmit or distribute your Content over various public networks and in various media; and (b) make such changes to your Content as are necessary to conform and adapt that Content to the technical requirements of connecting networks, devices, services or media. You agree that this license shall permit Google to take these actions.

So, how comfortable are you posting company content, Intellectual Property, logo’s, pictures and other information? Would your legal team or lawyer feel comfortable signing this agreement?

I’m not claiming to have the answers, but I do think it is the time to ask more questions.

Google Analytics Limits Marketers – Claims “Privacy”

Matt Bailey — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:28:58 +0000

An interesting move from Google has search marketers reacting in anger, amazement and disgust. Google, after years of providing search referral information, has decided that users that are “logged-in” to Google will no longer have their search terms show up in website analytics. This move has marketers fuming, as this is an important metric to measure in terms of developing a clear understanding of the search words that people use to find the site and those that lead to conversions. many marketers evaluate those terms in order to better understand the visitor and build content and better user experiences.

However, to make this move even more odd, is that Google will make those search terms available to advertisers in their Google AdWords campaigns. This is what has marketers seething with anger. It is a clear sign from Google that those paying for advertising will be able to gain information. However, the clear sign from Google about a pay-to-play for this information also sends mixed messages about Google’s intent.

You see, the primary reason Google is making this move is – privacy. In in interview with Google’s Matt Cutts, Danny Sullivan presses Cutts about the reasoning for hiding the search terms of logged Google searchers, and Cutts keeps coming back to the issue of privacy as the driving reasons.

So the message seems to be that Google is concerned about you keeping your searches private, but they will give the information to advertisers?!?

Truly a mixed message.

Of all reasons Google could give, privacy seems the most unlikely. Privacy is one of those issues that seems to be an inconvenience for Google, so to use this excuse now as a way to “protect” their users, seems hollow.

Here is a sampling of Google’s history of privacy concerns:

CEO Eric Schmidt, “Google policy is to get right up to the creepy line and not cross it.” (What happened to ‘Do No Evil’?)
Google’s Street Car program collected and cataloged public Wi-Fi locations.
Google also recorded the addresses and unique identifiers of computers and other devices using those wireless networks and then made the data publicly available through Google.com until just a short while ago.
Google has admitted that employees collected personal information and data for three years across the globe while its cars traveled through neighborhood snapping pictures for its Street View program.
The cars also collected “information” from Wi-Fi networks from people’s homes. Information is defined as: passwords from Wi-Fi networks in every home the cars drove past.
Google developed the ‘Facebook Friend Exporter,” a tool to snatch Facebook friends and their personal information into the new Google+. Names, addresses and even personal phone numbers are pulled into Google+.
Android phones regularly connect to Google.com and disgorge a miniature data dump that includes time down to the millisecond, current and recent GPS coordinates, nearby Wi-Fi network addresses, and two 16-letter strings representing a device ID that’s unique to each phone. (CNet)

In addition to this, a more formal list of privacy issues has been developed by Privacy International. Google has the highest ranking of “Hostility” towards privacy, detailing the following reasons:

Vague, incomplete, and possibly deceptive privacy policy that fails to explain details.
Poor track record of responding to customer complaints.
Ambivalent attitude to privacy challenges.
Privacy mandate not part of the culture throughout the company.
New technologies are frequently rolled out without adequate public discussion of privacy issues.
IP addresses are not considered personal information.
Does not allow search history to be removed.
Most services do not permit user access to specific or aggregated tracking data.
Opt-out possible for some, but not all services.
Some services do not work well without cookies.
May access most services without an account, but creating and using an account increases privacy risks.
Uses Doubleclick’s advanced profiling system.

Google is also more likely to provide information to information requests from the Obama Administration than any other government: The US government asks Google for user data more than twice as often as any other, and in its own Transparency Report, Google says it complied with US requests in 94 percent of cases.

For advertising purposes, Google gathers IP addresses, dates, and time for a 9-month span for a single user in order to determine what ads to display according to location, content of e-mails, and YouTube video watching habits.

So, Google….

Can we get past this very thin excuse of “privacy” and whatever that means to the company and get to a real discussion of this move?

- – - -

From my own opinion, Google says that this “privacy” move to hide the search terms of logged in Google users will only be about 1-2% of users, which is not enough to change the data that we at SiteLogic use to determine better methods of design, persuasion and conversion.

I can’t see that number being so low, however, and that is my issue. Most Google users are not aware that they are logged in as a Google User nearly all the time. Unless they log out, they will be logged in every time they use the search box, even with search bars integrated into toolbars and browsers, searches can be performed as a logged-in user from almost anywhere.

In addition, is this simply a move to begin “locking down” the hold that Google Analytics has by preventing data from being shared to other analytics programs? This move has many industry analysts and marketers watching in curiosity – and some in anger.

Color, Contrast and Text Size

Matt Bailey — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 19:24:15 +0000

3 of the most important elements in designing the content of a webpage are color, contrast and font size.

These three elements are amazingly useful when used properly, and mean the difference between action or ignorance. Understanding the important part that these three elements play in capturing the visitor’s attention is critical to today’s online marketing.

Google Analytics finds the Interface

Google is the most recent company to understand the critical role that something as basic as color, contrast and text size have to do with creating a successful user experience. By updating their analytics interface, they have now overcome one of the primary obstacles to gaining great data from analytics.

You see, one of the most important tools available in analytics is segmentation. The old interface in Google Analytics suffered from major User Interface problems, as the primary tools were simply not seen by the users. I was constantly amazed in my seminars as most attendees simply had no idea how to access the segmentation features available in Google Analytics. The primary reason no one knew about it? The combination of color, contrast and text size resulted in a critical tool that was difficult to find and use.

That Old User Interface

You see, here is the old analytics UI (user interface). The link to access or create an advanced segment is in the upper right corner, in light grey text in a grey background. Most people were simply not aware the option was there or that it was clickable!

Is the User Path Clear?

Then, once the link was clicked the window opened up. Pre-set segments were available to the user, but there are no custom segments, these need to be set up. However, the tool/link to access the custom segments is now on the left side of the window, in another small font text link. It’s not underlined, and it is in a very low-impact position, blending into the background. Only after the user has figured out where to click and where to go are they able to then develop custom segments.

However – the battle wasn’t won yet – the next screen took users to a screen that focuses on “Dimensions” and “Metrics,” which is another article for another day about using clear text labels for instructions. But that has been updated. It’s not great, but better.

The new Google Analytics interface now focuses users on a clear path to creating segments. The link for creating advanced segments uses clearer colors, higher contrast and a larger text size. IN addition, the primary linmk to creating new segments is now located on the left side of the page. The old location was on the right side of the poage, where eyes rarely drift, especially where there are no contrasting elements to draw the users’s eyes. By moving over to the left side of the page and presenting it in larger text and contrast, users will now be able to see this function as part of the interface, and not an afterthought.

See how these elements work together to draw your attention to the important feature?

How are you using color, contrast and text size?

Are you directing the users’s attention, or do users have to find their own way on your pages?

Jessica Roslan, Big Dee’s Tack & Vet Supplies

Matt Bailey — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 18:10:01 +0000

“Learning with the SiteLogic team offered a level of comfort that I had not previously experienced.”

Jessica Roslan, Big Dee’s Tack & Vet Supplies

Matt Bailey — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 18:03:08 +0000

“I was energized with a plan of attack custom tailored to our specific site.”

Charles Prescott, Editor Prescott Report; Executive Director, Global Address Data Association

Matt Bailey — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 17:57:53 +0000

“Evenings, week-ends, holidays. Big problems and small. Great insights … I’ll never leave SiteLogic.”