Mar 18 2013 ·
0 comments ·
Uncategorized ·
1
LinkedIn used to be considered as “just” the online resume of social networks.
But things are changing.
LinkedIn had long been viewed as the social media platform that did not need to be visited regularly. Now, with frequently updated, high-quality content, members have a reason to visit the site with more regularity and this gives brands a reason to put more eggs in the LinkedIn basket.
Just last year, the network added a “follow” feature that allows members to follow influencer’s newsfeeds without having to officially connect. They also rolled out a long-form publishing tool (think “blog”) so that these influencers can post lengthier, media-rich updates to their profiles.
Mar 11 2013 ·
0 comments ·
Josh Jordan ·
2
It wasn’t so long ago that Capital One sent out enough credit solicitations by mail that the USPS gave them their own special rate (that sound you hear is the USPS sighing and remembering the good ole’ days).
If you’re going to mail 1 Billion pieces a year, I guess you should get a little bit of a discount.
And, it wasn’t so long ago that Cap One called up their suppliers and said, “Hey, listen, ummm … the economy is kind-of tanking a little and we need to pull back. So … yeah. Sorry …” I’m paraphrasing of course, but you get the picture.
So why was I so surprised to see this?
Mar 01 2013 ·
0 comments ·
Social Media, Tim Howell ·
2
Where Content Comes From
You may not have heard of Reddit, but you’ve seen their influence. Reddit is a social news site, comparable to Digg, StumbleUpon, or the BBS’s of the late 90’s. Users may submit content, in the form of photos, external links, or text posts. Other users vote on these submissions, pushing popular posts to the front pages of the site – like a living search engine. With over 43 million active users (called Redditors) as of October 2012, some analysts are calling Reddit the most influential website online. The Harlem Shake is simply the latest in a long line of trends that the Reddit community founded. In 2013, if a piece of content goes viral, you can almost assuredly wager that it was popular on Reddit two weeks earlier.
But I’m not here to tell you why Reddit is important to the internet.
I’m here to tell you why it’s important to you.
Jan 10 2013 ·
0 comments ·
Make Me Social, Social Media ·
2
The great thing about working in an industry as dynamic as social media is that it enables us to connect incredible brands, and create something really special.
One of the recent connections that we made brought together two companies: Keepr™ Media and Enthuse.
Keepr™ Media uses a proprietary technology platform to deliver dynamic, rich, media in the form of a collectible, called KEEPR. The product connects via USB to any Windows computer to deliver a one-of-a-kind memorabilia experience. The KEEPR enables consumers to engage with their favorite teams, players and stars over the internet to access exclusive content and any other rewards and benefits the content owner wishes to deliver. KEEPRs can be purchased online at keeprmedia.com.
Jul 09 2012 ·
0 comments ·
Social Media ·
0
You may remember our blog post a few months back, announcing a call for interns at Make Me Social. That call was answered, and today we are pleased to introduce you to our new intern, Chance Mattox:
That sparkle in his eye? That’s determination.
We sat down with Chance and asked him a few questions so that we could properly introduce him before he starts blogging. Enjoy!
Name: Chance Nathanael Boyce Mattox
University: Florida State College of Jacksonville
Year in school: Junior in Fall ‘12
Major: Business Marketing
Role: Marketing Intern: Assist in Analysis, Assist in Coffee making. (Editor’s note: we never did get that coffee…)
Hobbies: Golf, Soccer, Basketball, Football, Cricket, Open Wheel Racing.
What inspired you to apply for this internship? The desire to learn and grow in a new field of Marketing and Marketing Analysis.
What are you looking forward to learning/working on? How to market web-based companies and increase their social media traffic.
What do you do in your spare time? Write, play sports, listen to music, instagram/tweet.
Favorite YouTube video? Oh-Oh-Oh Music video by The Golf Boys. Or the full 10 Hour Epic Sax Guy video.
Favorite website? When it’s December 25th: isitchristmas.com. When it’s not December 25th: Spotify/Pandora/Last.fm.
Favorite magazine? Time or Rolling Stone.
Least favorite food? Rutabaga, the way it looks, smells, tastes. Just, no.
Aug 11 2011 ·
0 comments ·
Greg Morgan, Social Media, Socially Made ·
0
Throughout 2011, Make Me Social will publish Socially Made, a review of social media’s continued evolution in both influence and commentary.
I am a fan of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). For many, the sport of mixed martial arts is too crazy or too barbaric, but personally, I am a fan. I like the action, competition, techniques and personalities. However, I am also a fan because of the company’s business model and their practice of brand management. The company works hard to grow their fan base, and does so in a practical way that helps attract the type of fans they want to have.
Among their best practices is their method of marketing through the use of Twitter.
As we all know, Twitter has always been head and shoulders above their competition in their ability to help grow an individual’s fame. Ashton Kutcher is of course the original example, but as I wrote about in a previous post, there are a growing number of influential people on Twitter, a majority of which need an avenue like Twitter to share their thoughts, opinions or considerations. People like Conan O’Brien, Chad Ochocinco, Kim Kardashian and others supplement their time on television with tweets that share information with fans when they aren’t / can’t be in front of the camera.
In the UFC, the practice of using Twitter ramped up starting with the company’s President, Dana White. He quickly became notorious for posting from everywhere, including ringside during fights (in an interview with Sports Illustrated, he talks about when he knew Twitter was a powerful tool. It involved a weeknight in 2009, a frozen yogurt store in Manhattan and potential free UFC tickets). From there, the individual fighters quickly started using the medium in order to connect with fans, discuss their training regiment and taunt opponents, but their success was limited because, unlike Dana White, the average fighter would only have matches 2-3 times a year, and therefore didn’t have the means to consistently market themselves through the UFC’s main engine: Television.
However, recently, a small change was made by the company that addressed this problem and also strengthened their fan base and outreach. At live events, the UFC started listing the Twitter handles of each of the fighters when they were being introduced. It was as simple as adding an extra few words on the screen, but the return on investment has been great. Now, fans of particular fighters know how to connect to them, and in turn, these fans stay connected to the UFC everyday and not just on Fight Nights.
The strategy promotes the fighters. It promotes the UFC. Win-Win.
So what can we learn?
Too often, organizations view social media as a complete shift in marketing philosophy when the ideal methodology is to use social media as a supplement and catalyst with what is already working. Is your advertising campaign going strong? Does your eNewsletter have an above-average open rate? Keep going with these, and use social media to supplement, promote and fill in the gaps. Organizations like the UFC have learned to harness social media’s versatility, and combine it with their established techniques to give a richer experience to the fans.
In short, the UFC airs about 30 live events a year, but because of their activity on social media and the way they promote their fighters, fight fans have plenty to do the other 335 days.
______________________________________________________________
Greg Morgan is Communications and Content Director 
for Make Me Social, a social media agency that develops customized social media strategies for businesses. With experience in industries ranging from sports to state government, Greg focuses in crafting messages for all types of clients in an effort to perfect what he calls “versatile communications.” Born and raised in West Hartford, Connecticut, he remains a loyal UConn Husky fan, despite now residing in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Jul 25 2011 ·
1 comment ·
Mandi Frishman, Social Media ·
0
By now, you’ve probably heard all about our ground breaking Social Media ROI formula that allows businesses to accurately calculate the Return on Investment of their social media efforts. If you haven’t heard about it yet, you’re in luck – we’re hosting another webinar on the topic (and at the time of this posting, there are still a handful of open registration spots left). So go sign up and then come back to finish reading this 100% all-natural, hand-crafted blog!
Over the course of our first few webinars on this topic, we have been getting some great questions from the audience. Some of the questions dealt with the application of the formula to specific industries, while others were a bit more broad in scope. Below you will find a compilation of some of the more general questions. Hopefully this will help you gain a deeper understanding of how the #MMSROI formula allows us to benchmark campaigns and create stronger, focused, and measured social media strategies.
Q1:
How well do these formulas scale down for companies that are just getting started and have few followers and little posting activity?
A1:
There’s always a page out there starting with a fan base of zero, and sometimes pages at 50,000 plus fans are really starting from the same place. Either way, it’s important to look at industry averages when you choose the level of response and activity that you want to achieve over time, and set clear goals.
If you think of the social media campaign like any other startup or initial investment, you’re going to spend more than you make upfront. Over time, as you build it up, you will start to achieve your ROI. At Make Me Social, we take snapshots on a monthly basis in order to track activity, but look for quarterly and long term trends to determine the true ROI. Anyone can have an up or down month and the key is to learn from that month and identify why the impressions and engagement numbers were low or high, and then make the necessary adjustments based on the results of that analysis to keep the social funnel healthy.
You can look at your spend over time and say that based on industry averages, here is what you should expect given your efforts over that time period, and then start feeding that against the results from your channels.
Q2:
Where do these numbers come from and how difficult are they to track?
A2:
This comes back to utilizing the standard industry platforms and measurement management tools that exist. We, as an agency, have a battery of them that we pick-and-choose from, based on the goals of the client. The tools range in scope from the simplicity of Hootsuite all the way up to the level of depth that you get from the page through Buddy Media. The technology and the leaps being made inside of the platforms help you gather the data needed to calculate some of these numbers. With Facebook, the Insights Analytic tool continues to improve and provide some very specific data points. So today, I can log into Facebook, and Insights will give a fairly deep view of the existing fan base, the number of post impressions, and some of the basic counts and information necessary to help me calculate my returns. The magic happens when you make the commitment to put the energy and effort into pulling the data and running it through the formula.
Our formula corresponds a click, share, retweet, or any other clickable engagement to a social post, similar to the engagement or interaction that takes place when someone clicks on a Pay Per Click (PPC) ad. As such, we place a value on the social interaction equal to the cost of a Pay Per Click ad. Make Me Social has done a significant amount of research online and in meetings with media buyers to determine the value several different industries are paying for PPC ads. The average online PPC rate depends on the size of a business as well as what industry the business is in, so you can see a range from $2.85 all the way up to $10. If you’re a smaller business, chances are that you’re not spending the $10, you’re spending the $2.85. A larger business is more likely to spend the $10. For simplicity across the board, a business may just want to use the average industry rate. It’s important to understand what you would be paying for each click given your business’s size and industry.
To learn more about the PPC rate that you should be using, call 904-824-8830 or email info@makemesocial.net to schedule a free consultation.
Q3:
Do employees who “like” a company’s page make it harder to calculate the ROI?
A3:
We don’t think so. Employees engaging on the platform factor into the formula, many of them may be some of the most engaged people on the page, especially early on. We relate this back to traditional media: if an employee of GM sees a television ad for GM, they still have the same opportunity to have an experience, engage with the brand, and more importantly, share the experience with others. So while the employee network may be interjected into overall return, it is still important because they represent the low hanging fruit, your referral base network, and an opportunity to engage with an audience that’s interested in seeing the brand expand. An engagement has value regardless of the “clicker.” There are different qualifications, factors, and weights that can be added in to the calculation to make adjustments to the overall value, but there is still value in every click.
If you’re still not sure, it’s good to engage Human Resources for their thoughts. HR knows that an engaged employee is more likely to stay employed and/or be more engaged in their job as well.
Q4:
Is it more important to increase awareness first or to focus on growing engagement on social channels?
A4:
From an ROI standpoint, the more you can engage people the better you’ll be. But it needs to start with awareness. We use the Cost Per Thousand (CPM) to calculate awareness in the #MMSROI formula, and CPM is a pretty standard number across the board. What it comes down to is that because the PPC rate is valued at more than an impression, you can see that increasing engagement will give you more bang for your buck.
Platforms reward you for engagement, which can help you increase your return over time. If you make a post to Facebook and no one engages with it, over time Facebook will start to show your posts less and less in the Newsfeed. This will make impressions go down, and impressions are a vital component to a successful campaign. It is important to get really clear, strong messaging out the door to build engagement so that, over time, you can build a case for the platform to show your messaging, share your information, and let the network work for you. So engagement becomes a key component of the ROI calculation.
Four questions and answers are not going to be enough to give you a total understanding of the #MMSROI formula, so be sure to join us for a full explanation this Tuesday, July 26th at 2 PM EDT. If you have any specific questions, post them in the comments below.
See you tomorrow!
___________________________________________________________
When she’s not working as a marketing manager for Make Me Social, Mandi Frishman gets her adrenaline pumping by watching turtle races. During her time studying at The University of Florida, Mandi became convinced in the power of learning through play. She has since committed herself to playing (and learning) all day, every day.
Jul 25 2011 ·
1 comment ·
Mandi Frishman, Social Media ·
0
By now, you’ve probably heard all about our ground breaking Social Media ROI formula that allows businesses to accurately calculate the Return on Investment of their social media efforts. If you haven’t heard about it yet, you’re in luck – we’re hosting another webinar on the topic (and at the time of this posting, there are still a handful of open registration spots left). So go sign up and then come back to finish reading this 100% all-natural, hand-crafted blog!
Over the course of our first few webinars on this topic, we have been getting some great questions from the audience. Some of the questions dealt with the application of the formula to specific industries, while others were a bit more broad in scope. Below you will find a compilation of some of the more general questions. Hopefully this will help you gain a deeper understanding of how the #MMSROI formula allows us to benchmark campaigns and create stronger, focused, and measured social media strategies.
Q1:
How well do these formulas scale down for companies that are just getting started and have few followers and little posting activity?
A1:
There’s always a page out there starting with a fan base of zero, and sometimes pages at 50,000 plus fans are really starting from the same place. Either way, it’s important to look at industry averages when you choose the level of response and activity that you want to achieve over time, and set clear goals.
If you think of the social media campaign like any other startup or initial investment, you’re going to spend more than you make upfront. Over time, as you build it up, you will start to achieve your ROI. At Make Me Social, we take snapshots on a monthly basis in order to track activity, but look for quarterly and long term trends to determine the true ROI. Anyone can have an up or down month and the key is to learn from that month and identify why the impressions and engagement numbers were low or high, and then make the necessary adjustments based on the results of that analysis to keep the social funnel healthy.
You can look at your spend over time and say that based on industry averages, here is what you should expect given your efforts over that time period, and then start feeding that against the results from your channels.
Q2:
Where do these numbers come from and how difficult are they to track?
A2:
This comes back to utilizing the standard industry platforms and measurement management tools that exist. We, as an agency, have a battery of them that we pick-and-choose from, based on the goals of the client. The tools range in scope from the simplicity of Hootsuite all the way up to the level of depth that you get from the page through Buddy Media. The technology and the leaps being made inside of the platforms help you gather the data needed to calculate some of these numbers. With Facebook, the Insights Analytic tool continues to improve and provide some very specific data points. So today, I can log into Facebook, and Insights will give a fairly deep view of the existing fan base, the number of post impressions, and some of the basic counts and information necessary to help me calculate my returns. The magic happens when you make the commitment to put the energy and effort into pulling the data and running it through the formula.
Our formula corresponds a click, share, retweet, or any other clickable engagement to a social post, similar to the engagement or interaction that takes place when someone clicks on a Pay Per Click (PPC) ad. As such, we place a value on the social interaction equal to the cost of a Pay Per Click ad. Make Me Social has done a significant amount of research online and in meetings with media buyers to determine the value several different industries are paying for PPC ads. The average online PPC rate depends on the size of a business as well as what industry the business is in, so you can see a range from $2.85 all the way up to $10. If you’re a smaller business, chances are that you’re not spending the $10, you’re spending the $2.85. A larger business is more likely to spend the $10. For simplicity across the board, a business may just want to use the average industry rate. It’s important to understand what you would be paying for each click given your business’s size and industry.
To learn more about the PPC rate that you should be using, call 904-824-8830 or email info@makemesocial.net to schedule a free consultation.
Q3:
Do employees who “like” a company’s page make it harder to calculate the ROI?
A3:
We don’t think so. Employees engaging on the platform factor into the formula, many of them may be some of the most engaged people on the page, especially early on. We relate this back to traditional media: if an employee of GM sees a television ad for GM, they still have the same opportunity to have an experience, engage with the brand, and more importantly, share the experience with others. So while the employee network may be interjected into overall return, it is still important because they represent the low hanging fruit, your referral base network, and an opportunity to engage with an audience that’s interested in seeing the brand expand. An engagement has value regardless of the “clicker.” There are different qualifications, factors, and weights that can be added in to the calculation to make adjustments to the overall value, but there is still value in every click.
If you’re still not sure, it’s good to engage Human Resources for their thoughts. HR knows that an engaged employee is more likely to stay employed and/or be more engaged in their job as well.
Q4:
Is it more important to increase awareness first or to focus on growing engagement on social channels?
A4:
From an ROI standpoint, the more you can engage people the better you’ll be. But it needs to start with awareness. We use the Cost Per Thousand (CPM) to calculate awareness in the #MMSROI formula, and CPM is a pretty standard number across the board. What it comes down to is that because the PPC rate is valued at more than an impression, you can see that increasing engagement will give you more bang for your buck.
Platforms reward you for engagement, which can help you increase your return over time. If you make a post to Facebook and no one engages with it, over time Facebook will start to show your posts less and less in the Newsfeed. This will make impressions go down, and impressions are a vital component to a successful campaign. It is important to get really clear, strong messaging out the door to build engagement so that, over time, you can build a case for the platform to show your messaging, share your information, and let the network work for you. So engagement becomes a key component of the ROI calculation.
Four questions and answers are not going to be enough to give you a total understanding of the #MMSROI formula, so be sure to join us for a full explanation this Tuesday, July 26th at 2 PM EDT. If you have any specific questions, post them in the comments below.
See you tomorrow!
___________________________________________________________
When she’s not working as a marketing manager for Make Me Social, Mandi Frishman gets her adrenaline pumping by watching turtle races. During her time studying at The University of Florida, Mandi became convinced in the power of learning through play. She has since committed herself to playing (and learning) all day, every day.
Jul 19 2011 ·
0 comments ·
Stephen Command, The Social Media Conundrum ·
0
No, not “Tweetership”, I said “Twittership”. Now, I know most of you are probably thinking this is some cool new dating service, or possibly one of our best on the Atlantis, well sorry to crush your dreams all you hopeful lovers! Actually, this word really doesn’t exist in a formal sense.
This message is intended for all you soon to be college students (and parents, too). It’s not time to go back to school quite yet, but as some of you are sitting at home this summer or working endless hours at the mall (or working endless hours on your social networking) looking for ways to pay for your college education, I have come across several “Twitterships”, (a real scholarship and all you have to do is use Twitter).
Can you come up with 140-character tweets? If so, you may be able to help cover some or all of your college tuition. For example:
- The University of Iowa is offering a full $37,000 scholarship to the MBA program as part of the application process for the person with the best 140-charcter tweet by July 28th.
- Scholarship.com is running a “Short & Tweet” campaign worth $1,000 to the winner by July 31st.
- CollegeScholarships.org gave out an award for $1,400 for the best tweet highlighting how to use Twitter to improve the world.
- In November 2010, KFC and the Colonel gave out a $20,000 scholarship for tweeting why you deserve a scholarship.
So what’s the conundrum? Show me the money? Not really. The question I really wanted to address is get to the point! Electronic and social media communication is about being timely and relevant, so get to the point … quickly. We need to feed our readers with straight-to-the-point information before it is lost. The end-users feed will only display your message for so long before new and more relevant info gets pulled in. You only have so long for someone to react or interact before they forget, lose interest or do not see your message anymore. Even universities are not ignoring the fact that writing styles and communication patterns are evolving and the typical 1,000-word essay may be a day of the past.
Leave me your best 140-character tweet in the comments section below or on our Twitter page with @srcommando on why you think Twitter can improve the world.
Until next time, keep it short.
______________________________________________________________
Stephen Command
is an Account Manager for Make Me Social, a social media agency that develops customized social media strategies for businesses.
Jul 19 2011 ·
0 comments ·
Stephen Command, The Social Media Conundrum ·
0
No, not “Tweetership”, I said “Twittership”. Now, I know most of you are probably thinking this is some cool new dating service, or possibly one of our best on the Atlantis, well sorry to crush your dreams all you hopeful lovers! Actually, this word really doesn’t exist in a formal sense.
This message is intended for all you soon to be college students (and parents, too). It’s not time to go back to school quite yet, but as some of you are sitting at home this summer or working endless hours at the mall (or working endless hours on your social networking) looking for ways to pay for your college education, I have come across several “Twitterships”, (a real scholarship and all you have to do is use Twitter).
Can you come up with 140-character tweets? If so, you may be able to help cover some or all of your college tuition. For example:
- The University of Iowa is offering a full $37,000 scholarship to the MBA program as part of the application process for the person with the best 140-charcter tweet by July 28th.
- Scholarship.com is running a “Short & Tweet” campaign worth $1,000 to the winner by July 31st.
- CollegeScholarships.org gave out an award for $1,400 for the best tweet highlighting how to use Twitter to improve the world.
- In November 2010, KFC and the Colonel gave out a $20,000 scholarship for tweeting why you deserve a scholarship.
So what’s the conundrum? Show me the money? Not really. The question I really wanted to address is get to the point! Electronic and social media communication is about being timely and relevant, so get to the point … quickly. We need to feed our readers with straight-to-the-point information before it is lost. The end-users feed will only display your message for so long before new and more relevant info gets pulled in. You only have so long for someone to react or interact before they forget, lose interest or do not see your message anymore. Even universities are not ignoring the fact that writing styles and communication patterns are evolving and the typical 1,000-word essay may be a day of the past.
Leave me your best 140-character tweet in the comments section below or on our Twitter page with @srcommando on why you think Twitter can improve the world.
Until next time, keep it short.
______________________________________________________________
Stephen Command is an Account Manager for Make Me Social, a social media agency that develops customized social media strategies for businesses.
